As I continue to reference here and over at Biz Growth News, building your personal brand as a leader takes many forms and we can build or destroy our reputation in just one action or comment.
Today I received an urgent call from a client who was distressed by a conversation she had had with a potential designer. She had been connected to this person in good faith by her local printer as she wanted to work on developing a new visual identity for her business.
What threw her was the downright rudeness of the designer. During the course of the conversation they completely savaged the website and reputation of one of her colleagues, quoting what can only be construed as gross fabrications and lies - yet they had never met my clients colleague or knew anything about thei business.
They then went on to be dismissive of her business without knowing much about it.
When you are in the early stages of developing a business, it is easy to be put off course by people who are "nay sayers" and this conversation today was of little help to my client.
I was only too pleased to have been on hand to talk to her.
Bottom line, this designer has done nothing to further their reputation or credibility. As my client stated:
If they are like that about people they do not even know and they are talking about someone I respect hugely, there is no way I could put my trust in them.
In that short conversation on the phone, that designer has put into question one of the most important things we must develop for healthy relationships in business and our personal life - trust.
It takes time to develop, a moment to destroy and an eternity to rebuild.
While we may have beliefs about our own expertise against that of others, don't forget that to be dismissive and rude about others says more about us than it does of the other person.
Safe to say, my client now has the contact details of four designers I have recommended to her!
