A reputation to overcome
"A brand is what a business does, reputation is what people remember." Ted Rubin
I own a painting company. We do interior and exterior, all surface painting. I started it last year in part because of my horrible experience with painters. I went through four painters to paint my blinds business showroom. One never showed up, two showed up and did some measurements and I never heard from them again, and the third showed up, painted but then deceived me as to the final cost. I knew I could do it better. I found a fine young man of character to partner with to start and run a painting company. We had many discussions, I conducted ample research into the trade, and we built a plan.
One part of our discussions involved the reputation we would be operating under. It’s just a fact that painters, and contractor’s writ large have a bad reputation. It makes it hard for the good ones who show up when they say they will and do exactly what they say they will do. I knew, no matter how unfair it was, we would begin every client relationship under that reputation. It would be upon us to reverse it through word and deed.
Leaders have that same problem. While not as widespread as a painter reputation, leadership roles and titles such as CEO and manager can come with baggage. We have all seen the ruthless, careless, and toxic CEO in movies and TV shows who is in it for himself or herself, and who mistreats his or her people. There are plenty of comedies where the manager is a putz. This is the reputation of the role many leaders are placed into, and the task becomes theirs to reverse this reputation.
In my painting company we attack this bad reputation head on. It starts at the first phone call where we are responsive, polite, and accommodating to the needs of our customers. It follows through our actual performance where we arrive on time and do what we say we will do. The reputation is not reversed through a single act – word or deed. It is reversed by several of them, proving to the customer that we are not like the others. It is serious business.
Leaders who lead as they want to be led, caring for and nurturing their people, displaying vulnerability and transparency with the presence of a leader, can chip away at this reputation. Leaders who constantly engage with their people can prove to them that they are not like the others. Like painting, this takes a series, indeed, a continuous effort of demonstrating good leadership in word and deed. It is serious business.
I wish the bad reputation of painters were not so. I can’t do much about it. Leaders cannot do much about the reputation of bad leaders. I’m sure this problem extends beyond painters and leaders. Whatever its form, the key is to recognize it for what it is and focus on that which you can control. Bad reputation problems are bigger than all of us. What we can do, knowing these reputations exist, is to work extra hard to overcome them. That is positively within our control.
Make it Personal!
Rob
Rob Campbell