protecting your reputation at all costs

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Protect Your Reputation At All Costs

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“A risk to reputation is a threat to the survival of the enterprise.”-Peter J. Firestein

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I Read An Article Once... About Blackstone executive David Blitzer, whose father-in-law was charged with trying to shake him down for $7.5 million. The father-in-law was ultimately arrested after Blitzer, 38, made a $500,000 payment as part of a deal to get the harassment to stop. The father-in-law had originally requested that Blitzer loan him money, and Blitzer did.

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However…. When the father-in-law requested more money and Blitzer refused, things turned ugly. According to the article: In June, Ross demanded more money and began harassing Blitzer with phone calls and emails, according to the district attorney’s office. Ross allegedly said that if Blitzer did not give him at least an additional $50,000, Ross would contact Blackstone executives and law enforcement with accusations that he said would ruin Blitzer’s career. In one voicemail message, Ross threatened to “commit open warfare” against Blitzer if he didn’t send money.”

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At The Time I Was Reading This… I was being attacked in a similar way by a family member after refusing to give that person a loan. The difference between what happened to me and the situation with Blitzer was that the “open warfare” against me had already commenced. The attacks had been going on for some time, in fact. When my relative denied the attacks, I asked them to take a lie detector test, which they took and failed.

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While I Cannot Comment On This Further… I can tell you that having someone plant falsehoods in the public mind about you is something that needs to be defended against very vigorously. You need to go all out and protect your reputation at all costs. Do not be a victim.

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The Attack By My Relative…. Was among the hardest things I have ever had to deal with. This is something that really goes to the core of who you are because it can cause damage in many respects. People have even asked me why someone would make the accusations this person has made if they were not true. The problems this has caused me, my family, and even my employees are completely unacceptable.

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In Your Career… You cannot take any chances with what people say about you. Never let falsehoods be spread about you. Most of my work experience, before becoming the CEO of the employment companies I work for now, was in the legal industry. I worked in Los Angeles and saw several careers (of attorneys) literally destroyed due to rumors. While some of the rumors I heard were true, most were not-and the results for the attorneys, even when the rumors were not justified, were almost always catastrophic.

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Even In A Market As Large As Los Angeles… Word gets around very quickly. If you believe something is being said about you that is not true, you need to react quickly to stop the rumors. The only fights that you are guaranteed to lose are the ones you do not fight.

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When You Are Searching For A Job You need to be very aware that your potential employers will be doing their homework on you. They will put your name into a search engine and look you up on social networking sites to see what they can find out about you. If you have a blog, your potential employer will look this up as well. If the people you are associating with on your blog do not meet your potential employer’s approval (e.g., they are into “weird stuff”), this may cause him or her to back off. The key is to ensure that you are protecting your reputation and controlling what others can find out about you.

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I Once Heard… Someone say something that I believe is very appropriate regarding professional reputations: “Never tell people you work with your biggest weaknesses because this is something that can be used against you in the future. Your weakness is something that gives others power over you.”

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While This May Sound Extreme… The point is to keep yourself protected. You do not want people spreading negative information about you in the workplace. This can, not only cause problems with your current job, but can also potentially do damage to your future employment prospects. There is no better way to hurt your career (especially in niche professions where a lot of people know each other) than to allow rumors to circulate about you. If there are negative rumors circulating about you, they need to be stopped.

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The Best Way To Deal With Rumors… Is often to acknowledge that they exist and then go out and do your best to address them. Addressing rumors is an excellent way to ensure that the truth behind them is not allowed to fester.

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For Example… The Coca-Coca Company has an entire portion of its website dedicated to addressing false rumors. Dealing with false rumors is a corporate priority for large companies such as Coca-Cola, and it should be a priority in your career as well.

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In My Opinion… One of the very best ways to overcome your critics (in the case of false rumors) is to simply sit down and speak with some of the people whom you believe are creating the rumors. This is difficult to do in a professional environment but, when done properly, it can put the people on notice about your concern and let them know that you suspect them. Getting close to these people (”keep your enemies close”) is often the best medicine to quiet them.

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When I Was In High School… I remember another football player spreading rumors about me and a girl in our school whom I had never spoken with. I walked up to him the day I heard about the rumor and asked him: “What exactly makes you feel good about spreading this rumor about this girl and me?” I never heard the rumor again. Later, I heard he denied ever saying this to the same people he had once said it to.

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The Point Is… You need to confront untrue rumors in order to prevent them from festering. Protect your professional reputation at all costs.