Reputation-It's Personal

As a potential or current board director you already have a reputation whether you manage it or not. It’s based around a number of factors, some obvious others less so. So, just what makes up your board director reputation?

We all live our lives on a basis of values and ideals. They take years to develop and craft and, in many cases, we unconsciously absorb some or most of our values from our immediate family and close peer groups. The combination and expression of your values on a consistent basis becomes your brand. Your brand (reputation) is really the difference between what you say and what you do. Reputations are always filtered through the sentiments, prejudices and interests of others which, in turn, influences how we see ourselves.

 Labels, nicknames and tags (literally now with social media) are not ways of branding; they are descriptors that others place on you, not what you stand for. If you are conscious of your reputation/what you stand for, you must be in control of it and not leave it to others to determine.

 Here’s some of the key elements I explored in my book, Brand New, Brand You, and some additional observations.

 1.    What are your values.

Have you ever sat down and worked through what your values are?  Your values make up your value. Your values are the basic beliefs that you think to be true, the lens through which you ‘see’ all things and the world. If you don’t know clearly what they are, have not articulated them, it’s like sailing without a compass (or GPS). You might be heading in the ‘right’ direction but you could easily not be. And, when you have to make decisions under pressure this lack of clarity can have disastrous consequences for you and anyone else on your ship.

2.    What does your behaviour/actions SHOW?

We’re all aware of the leaders and board directors who say one thing and do another, or don’t ‘do’ anything, of leaders and board directors who hide behind legal and or technical xx to obfuscate. Just look at the ongoing PwC tax scandal. Being legally right and morally wrong, equals being wrong.

 Connected to this is, of course, having the courage to live by your values and sometimes that means making decisions around what you will or won’t accept despite what others may say, do or pressure you into. Living by your values every day can be hard sometimes, but that’s what leaders with strong, trusted reputations do.

 3.    What you ‘do’ does not sustain your relevance and therefore your reputation.

Many people in business, politics and sport align their view of relevant to what they do rather than who they are. There are no jobs for life anymore, let alone board director roles (Rupert Murdoch and a few other owner/board directors aside). Even Bruce Gordon has recently retired from all his board roles-albeit after a long board career.

 4.    Your networks are a crucial part of your reputation.

 None of us can predict what the future holds in our businesses and personal lives. But we all have a choice about who we associate with, how much time, effort and energy we put into these relationships and the longevity of them. Connecting (in person or on LinkedIn) is NOT the same as building deep relationships over time which have to be based on your core values, passions and beliefs. Anything less than this will render you at best inconsistent in your actions or merely transactional and, at worst, someone who is disloyal.

 How much effort and time do you put into your core/important relationships?

 Have you ever stepped back and looked at the relationships you have and what you are adding to them or not, not what you can ‘get’ from them?

 What level of insight, foresight do you have? How much curiosity, effort and energy do you put into deeply understanding the trends in the world, your industry sector and how AI/data is going to impact every business?

 How do you connect to people, your peers, those who work with you or you report to? Your relationships skills are as important as your ‘hard’ skills. Here I’m talking about your authenticity which is different from ‘being authentic’.

 The answers might provide some insight as to why you’re not progressing the way you wish in your board career or other roles. Being highly skilled in your area is not enough to build strong networks. Astute board directors understand how to build and nurture meaningful and purposeful relationships based on genuine values and action.

 I explore these elements and more in my upcoming program Astute Leadership in 2025.

 If you are interested in exploring how to develop and hone your astute leadership skills contact me for an introductory session.