The reputation you build when no one is watching

During my journey as an Account Manager and Digital Marketer, I have considered achieving results and meeting client expectations and relationships to be a measure of professional credibility. But the Business Professionalism lecture made me question whether reputation should only be determined by what we can see.

Especially, the Four Pillars of Business Professionalism (professional formation, self-management, presence or image and communication) as expressed by Strom had a great impact. At first, I was thinking of them as single attributes. I realised that when it comes to creating a winning professional brand, it’s important to have values and actions that back it up in their behaviour and values consistently.

The differentiation of professional ethics and compliance was also significant. Doing as told is an indication of responsibility, it’s not an assurance of good judgment. This provoked my assumption that positive outcomes have to result from integrity in the profession.

When it comes to digital marketing campaign performance, it’s not just about successes. It includes recognising limitations, articulating poor performance and providing recommendations based on data-driven evidence. While focusing on positive outcomes might appear to be a commercial draw, it can also lead to a compromise in the trust of your clients in the long run. To some extent reputation relies on what others say, integrity is a matter of consistency regardless of whether or not they notice a decision. Thus, professional credibility evolves from daily decisions to be genuine, fair, and accountable.

I would like to build my moral compass with respect to transparency of recommendations, outcomes to various stakeholders and feedback when confronted with difficult decisions. I want my values to be acknowledged as I move up the ladder of senior leadership, beyond only the outcome.

My key takeaway is that reputation is a product of others’ perception and integrity is a product of our decisions when no one is noticing.