28 Lessons in Reputation Management

Everyone, from individuals to organizations, has stories to share about reputation.

After a whole quarter of learning different reputational frameworks and lessons from lectures and guest speakers, we had an opportunity to validate these lessons and distill new ones from real world leaders and organizations who themselves had created — or destroyed — reputations of their own. To do this in a meaningfully analytical manner takes substantial time and energy, which is why I feel fortunate to have been able to listen to the lessons borne out by the labors of six classmates who each brought their own perspective into their analyses. These totaled thirty-seven different lessons that I will be able to use in my post-GSB career.

Janet Yellen — Brigitte Hackler

Reputation of women in leadership, public servants

Janet Yellen

Brigitte spoke about Janet Yellen, the current United States secretary of the treasury who was previously the 15th chair of the Federal Reserve and the first woman to hold either role. She is seen as “nice” and is highly respected, which is a difficult balance for a woman leader in American culture. From her and her career, we can learn five lessons about maintaining a reputation as a woman in the public and political arenas.

1. Establishing credibility takes work.
2. Avoiding drama and keeping it professional pays off.
3. Voicing partisan opinions selectively makes those opinions more powerful.
4. Women can be both “nice” and respected.
5. There’s always some luck involved when it comes to public reputation.

Lil Nas X — Emily Calkins

Reputation of media personalities, minority groups

Lil Nas X

Emily spoke about Montero Lamar Hill, otherwise known as Lil Nas X, a rapper, singer, and media personality. He was the first individual to come out as gay while having a number-one record on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. He is one of the most visible queer, Black male singers to command the spotlight. From his burgeoning career, Lil Nas X can teach us eight lessons about creating a media reputation.

1. Know how to tell your story.
2. Leverage social media.
3. Partnership is a good thing.
4. Go where you are celebrated.
5. Be authentically you!
6. Let your trolls fuel you.
7. Your job is to create relationships with people.
8. Experience discomfort.

Matt Gaetz & Gaetzgate — Mary-Grace Reeves

Reputation management during crises

Matt Gaetz

Mary-Grace spoke about Representative Matt Gaetz and the eponymously named controversy Gaetzgate, in which he is under investigation about whether he violated sex-trafficking laws and had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old. From the way Matt mishandled this issue, Mary-Grace provided us with takeaways about how we should handle reputational crises of our own in the off-chance that they do occur.

1. Respond rapidly.
2. Cultivate a strong network.
3. Address the crisis head-on.
4. Swift denial is beneficial only if it is truthful.
5. Thoughtful consideration and acknowledgements of allegations conveys leadership.
6. Maintain credibility by staying rooted in the facts.
7. Balance boldness with empathy and warmth.

Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation—Austin Ward

Reputation of organizations

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Austin shared with us the reputation of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a foundation whose reputation depends just as much on its own merit as it does of its namesake founders Bill Gates and Melinda Gates. Through a detailed analysis of Diermeier’s Trust Radar, Austin shows us the reputational challenges and opportunities that organizations face as they evolve alongside their individual founders and employees.

1. Power of high-profile leaders in an organization.
2. Challenges of pursuing a mission intensely.
3. Value of partnerships and collaboration.
4. Importance of building empathy.
5. Value of recognizing mistakes and pivoting.

Shinzo Abe — Rika Yamada

Reputational recovery

Shinzo Abe

Rika shared with us the rise and fall, and subsequent rise again of Shinzo Abe, the Japanese politician and two-time Prime Minister of Japan. After a series of scandals that rocked his political party’s and his own reputation, he resigned from his first stint as Prime Minister but was able to make an unexpected political comeback, where he would then serve for Prime Minister for 8 uninterrupted years. From his political career, Rika derived three lessons for herself and for others.

1. A negative reputation can be transformed.
2. Trust is essential for a leader.
3. The need for a balance of warmth and competence.

Bonus: Imogen Mansfield

Staying connected to classmates after graduation

Imogen ended the class with her own tips on how to stay connected to your GSB classmates. She provided the following five examples below, but she stressed the importance of “finding your thing” — the way that you want to keep connected that will work for you.

1. Get a schedule: monthly/quarterly zoom, annual trips, reunions.
2. Make an effort to visit people when you’re nearby, or attend their weddings/birthdays.
3. Give and Take: help and you will be helped “invest in your network.”
4. Make new friends where you live.
5. Share the #Memories.

From all these seemingly disparate lives and organizations, I’ve found that the reputational lessons they share are largely universal. These examples have made some of the abstract lessons and recommendations more tangible, both in how they apply to people’s lives and how they can apply specifically to my own life. Whether you’re a Gen-Z celebrity or Baby Boomer politician or, like me, a Millennial budding entrepreneur, the importance of building and maintaining a positive reputation is ubiquitous. I hope you will find these 28 lessons to be useful as you embark on your own reputation journey.