Ep 265 | 11 Ways to Bulletproof Your Reputation

Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick and welcome to the No Days Off podcast where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. Before we get into it today, I would just like to remind all of our No Days Off nation that if you like what you're hearing, uh, on our 260+ episodes that we put out, over the past year. I would love for you to share the No Days Off podcast and No Days Off message with your peers, with others that you believe may benefit from listening to all that we talk about here every single day. If you're a regular listener, you know, we typically go 8 to call it 13 minutes every morning. It's meant to be a quick hitter, something to get you thinking about how to improve your world, each and every day. Maybe it's health, maybe it's relationships, maybe it's business, whatever it may be. The objective here is to just get you thinking a little bit different so that you approach the day differently than everybody else. And as a result, you get a different result. You are not the status quo if you're listening to this podcast. So on that note, please share it. It means the world to me. That is the best way for you to support me and the No Days Off podcast. By putting some episodes in the hands or the ears, I should say, of your friends. Let's get into today's topic though. Yesterday we talked a bit about reputation and how, you know, you, you spend decades building a reputation, but it could all fall apart in a matter of minutes. I also did an episode on, on a topic last, last, uh, maybe 2 weeks ago, it was episode 254. It was called Bulletproofing Your Wealth. And that served as inspiration for what we're going to talk about. Those two episodes serve for inspiration on what we're going to talk about today, which is bulletproofing your reputation. What are the things that you can do to bulletproof the reputation or do our best to bulletproof the reputation that you've spent years or decades building. Number 1, this one's probably pretty obvious, but I'm going to say it anyhow. Always act with integrity. What is integrity? The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. When I think about integrity, I think about doing what you say you're going to do when and how you say you're going to do it. Always act with integrity. Be a person of integrity. Those that have high integrity generally do not have reputational risk. When their integrity falls off, when they don't act with integrity, there is exposure. So number 1, always act with integrity. Number 2, deliver exceptional results. And if you're not going to deliver exceptional results, like if you're going to miss the par— miss the mark, then you better die trying. To get those results. If you always deliver or strive to deliver a great result, a good product, a strong service, if you put forth the energy and the effort and you deliver, or even if you fail, but you put in the energy and effort, your reputation is in fact bulletproof. No one can ever say that you were lazy or that you put something out poor. Now, again, as entrepreneurs, is it possible that, you know, you struggle from time to time, that maybe you put some duds out there? Of course, but that's where effort comes into play. So deliver exceptional results. And at the very least, if you're not going to put out an exceptional result, you better die trying. Number 3, if you want to bulletproof your reputation, prioritize communication. More so than ever before. What do I mean? I'm talking about being purposeful in communicating. Specifically, always manage expectations, right? As you grow in your career, as your reputation grows, right? There are things that start to become expected of you. I mean, you know, that is the normal you, the standard you. So if there's ever going to be a different version of you or different result or something different than what people anticipate, You are best to be out in front of it and manage expectations. When in doubt, disclose. Kind of goes back to integrity. Be transparent, disclose, prioritize communication. Number 4, kind of along those same lines, build moats around your key relationships. Build moats around your key relationships. What am I talking about? What do I— I'll tell you what I think about. I think about using Charlie Munger's mental model of inversion. I look at my key relationships and I ask the question, if this relationship was to go sideways, or if I was to screw up this relationship, what would be the cause of it? And whatever those answers are, I immediately move forward in solving for those things today to make certain that they never come about. That's what I mean when I say building moats. So let's say I've got a really important, say, business partner of mine. I would ask myself if this partnership was to go sideways, or if this relationship was to fall apart, What would that be? And then I would, you know, I'd write that down and then I'd strategize around how to make certain that never happens. That's what I mean when I say build moats around key relationships. Number 5, stay authentic. Be you. Don't forget where you came from. Don't forget who you are. As your reputation grows, there's a good chance your business grows, your money grows, all sorts of things start to grow in your world. Do not forget who you are and what got you to where you're at. Remember where you came from. Number 6, be grateful and share that gratitude often. What do I mean when I say share that gratitude often? Have humility, acknowledge those that help you get to where you're at today, that helped you build this reputation. Acknowledge those that help you maintain this reputation. Give credit where it is due. Put others out in front and be proud that, you know, you're alongside them. You don't always need the spotlight. Number 7, uh, maintain a good work-life balance. Now, I'm not a fan of balance. I think that running average in both areas is a silly way to approach life, but just be careful around managing work and managing life. You can go hard at work, but don't go too far in the red. You can go hard in life, don't go too far in the red. What I found is those that, you know, where their reputations may have fallen apart, sometimes it's because they neglected a significant part of their world and went all in on an area for too long. So make sure that you are a well-rounded person, right? And that will aid you in bulletproofing your reputation. Number 8, study decision-making. What do I mean when I say that? Learn and learn and learn how to make better decisions, because the bigger your reputation gets, the more important the decisions you're making become, because you have greater risk. The bigger your world gets, the bigger your risk. It's kind of like, you know, my man Biggie Smalls says, right? The more money, the mo' problems, right? Uh, study decision-making, which leads to number 9, practice patience. The bigger that reputation gets, the more patient you must be. You cannot have knee-jerk reactions. You cannot make, you know, risky moves. They've got to be far more calculated. You've got to underwrite. You've got to underwrite all things, not just business moves, but what's going to come out of your mouth next. You've got to consider, you know, who you're going to impact. Be patient. Number 10, limit your risk, limit your exposure. This is a super important one. And I don't know if you're all, you know, if everyone listening today is ready to hear this. But on this path to building your reputation, or if you have one and you're looking to really maintain that reputation, you've got to limit your exposure or limit your risk. What do I mean? Get rid of risky people in your world. Avoid what I'd call risky events. Be very aware of your environment and your surroundings. I'm going to be more pointed as I'm sharing this. Be selective where you're at. I'll tell— I mean, some might think I'm over the top. But you will find me these days at a lot fewer events where alcohol is involved, not because I don't trust myself, but I don't want to be around a lot of people drinking. You will find myself— I will find myself like, like not going to certain places just because I don't want exposure to whatever's going on there. And it's not because I don't like to have fun. I do. I just, you know, I'm willing to sacrifice a little perceived fun to maintain what I've spent decades building. Now we can go deeper on this, probably in a private conversation, but I think you all know what I mean. Be very careful, you know, as your reputation grows. Remember, you spent decades building this and all it takes is one bad environment, one dumb decision, One, one, you know, one thing like just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And so I, why even show up? And yeah, I know it's hard. You know, some of us get a little bit of FOMO, but I'm willing to have that FOMO to protect what matters more to me. Uh, last thing, plan for crisis management. Uh, What do I mean? Here's the scoop. If you're at it long enough, there's no question you're going to experience some sort of reputational threat or even reputational crisis. Hopefully it's just more threat and you've got to be prepared. So prepare for these things, right? Identify where risks may exist in your world right now. Build protocols for responding to any sort of crisis that could come about. Make sure if you've got people within your world, like, Get them, you know, aligned on how to handle any sort of challenging situation that may come up. I know this again may seem over the top, and I hope that you will never have to deploy any sort of crisis management plan. But the reality is the bigger you get, the more you do, the more exposure you're going to have. And there will be, um, some threats that come about no matter— even if you follow my first 10 steps, there will be threats that come about. You might as well plan for it now and then never have to enact that plan. So today's topic about bulletproofing your reputation, I think that some of you this really resonates with right now. And I'm thinking some others may, uh, may not be as into this episode at this moment, but I'm going to, uh, ask you to put a pin in this one, flag this one, because there will be a day that you'll come back to it. Because again, you work too damn hard to get to where you're at. You gotta make sure that you build a wall, you build a fortress around that and decrease your exposure, have a little less fun possibly, but protect what you've created for you, your family, your peers, your partners, whatever it may be. That's all I have for you today, the No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening, and remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it.