attention industry

Reputation Management in a Transparent Age

Tiger Woods damaged his career by cheating on his wife to an alarming degree.

Tiger Woods damaged his career by building a personal brand he couldn’t support.

Both of these statements are true, but I’d say there is a hell of a lot more to think about in regards to the second, especially given the changes to reputation that our panoptic society is going to go through.

The short version is: be awesome, not perfect.

Tiger built a brand based on not only being the most dominant player in the history of sport, but also on being the All American Guy.  Hardworking, polite, humble, family man, always remembering to thank and honour his parents.  Which is fabulous, if it’s you.  But if you aren’t that robotically perfect, it is officially a ticking timebomb to seem too perfect, especially if your life is lived in public.

If you exist in social media, or spend time around people you do, your behaviour will be documented.  Your option is to either live a life in fear of being caught slipping up, or to be frank and honest about who you are, honest about what you do, and accepting of how you will be seen.

But none of this has anything to do with your work, which is what SHOULD matter.

Would Tiger Woods be as well paid if he’d been less seemingly perfect?  Of course not.  But it would have been sustainable, and relatively scandal proof.  And he still would have gotten endorsements, because he’s THE BEST, by a large margin. People argue that part of the problem is the sport in question, and it’s reputation, but I can only think of John McEnroe, a star of a similarly mannered sport who was well known for his outbursts and attitude.  If you insist your reputation and accolades be based on your work, they can only be invalidated by your work.

I’m not arguing it’s okay to be a bad person.  I’m just suggesting that basing your value on something as subjective as your persona, especially one that doesn’t actually reflect your real-life actions, is a dangerous risk, and one that is becoming less likely to pan out.

I’m not going to fight to delete every picture of me drinking a shot at a bar with my friends.  I’m not going to censor myself if I happen to feel a little hungover from time to time.

When it comes to my career, I’d rather people think my work is awesome, than have them think I’m perfect.  I’d rather what I do justify accepting perceived flaws in who I am.

At the end of the day, the truth never really comes crashing down on you.  And in the social media panopticon, every fabrication comes with a countdown clock.