A

former media personality in Kenya finds herself being charged in Australia. The story behind the mess she is in at the moment is too long to tell. The long and short of it is that her reputation has been spoilt, to say the least.

When I got wind of what had happened to her, she was awaiting sentencing in an Australian court. One of my “friends” on Facebook started lamenting how a wasted life that this lady was now leading when initially her life was very promising.

We are All Redeemable

I felt something so strongly about this media personality, and I wrote back commenting on my friend’s post that this lady is “redeemable”. It is interesting that all this was happening in the season of time that I have been exploring this subject of recovery of a reputation.

I can tell you this: The only thing that will make you not to recover your reputation is your own refusal to do so. However, for as long as you are willing and are able to pay the price to redeem your reputation, I am sure you are able to get it done.

A Recap

This is the penultimate article on the subject. We have been discussing how you can recover your reputation. It is good that we do a small recap. I have tried as much as possible to organize the tools for reputation recovery in the order of importance.

In other words, I believe that the recovery of your reputation is done in chronological order to the points that I shared. Here is the recap:

1. Acknowledge Your Mess:

   This is where you start. There is no great progress in reputation recovery if there is no owning up your part in bringing about the mess. Your owning up charts a path sets an agenda and provides the focus for your reputation recovery.

2. Go to Ground Zero:

   This means that you ought to put in perspective what you have lost in relation to how you were esteemed previously. You need to gain as much information as possible regarding how things used to be and how you want them to turn out when the curtains close. IN other words, what do you want your reputation to be like in the future?

3. Build it Right Up

This is self-explanatory. However, you notice that you cannot rebuild a reputation if you do not have the necessary information that is needed. This “rebuilding” though is not just to go back to how things used to be. It is building something new altogether

4. Use Your Past

   Instead of sweeping your mess under the carpet, you choose to be as authentic as possible. This means that you are unashamed of your past and you can easily quote it. Christians use a formula called “Testimony”. It involves talking about your bad reputation but it doesn’t just stop there. You also talk about your moment of change and how beautiful things are at the moment.

5. OK Plus One

   This means that you go an extra mile. It was alluded to in point 3 above. Reputation recovery is not about going back to how things were, it’s about going the extra mile so that you are now known for something new. This could pretty much help the Kenyan media personality in a massive way.

Today, we continue with this discussion by looking at the next best thing that you can do in order to recover your reputation:

6. Put measures in place to protect you in future

It goes without saying. Once beaten, twice shy. There is a possibility that you had a spoilt reputation because there was no relationship management.

It is only wise to put measures in place that will help you detect and deal with any issues that might arise that will cause you to lose your reputation. Reputation management is one of the most important things that we should have.

While doing this, one needs to realize that a reputation is at the rudimentary level oiled through relationships, either directly or indirectly.

1. Be Authentic

You start by defining what you will be known for. Of course, your definition will not automatically be the same reputation that you have. This is what I mean. You will define what you stand for and stake your life for it, but what you will be known for will not be exactly what you have defined your reputation for.

Why? Because reputation is not something you can have full control over. A large portion of your reputation is a result of perception. You cannot control perception eternally, neither should you worry about controlling it.

That is why you ought to set your standards, your values, your promises, your excellence and your authenticity. Your goal becomes not to worry about your reputation but to make sure that you are not deviating from your authenticity.

2.  Be Accountable

I have found great value in the recent past when someone calls me out on my mediocrity. When someone tells me that I could have done better they believe that I am better than what I exuded. Therefore, accountability is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves in terms of managing our reputation.

Accountability is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves in terms of managing our reputation. Share on X

I think the worst we can do about our reputation is to be shut out completely from being accountable to someone…or from someone having oversight over us. This message will resonate strongly with Ugandans. A certain “man of God” has gone way over the line in handling his reputation because he either did not have accountability or he flatly refused it.

As a result, the government is talking planning to shut down his church. Other church leaders have disassociated themselves from him. You see, accountability will shield you from drifting. Drifting is one of the dangerous things out there because you will not even realize that you are moving away.

4. Seek to Obtain Feedback

In addition to being accountable, one ought to go out there and directly seek feedback from people. In other words, you set up a mechanism that will allow people to give you feedback. You ought to be thorough and creative about this.

Over the years, seeking feedback has become so cliché. That’s why we have people dishing out feedback forms at the end of every “presentation” or something of the like. People are tired of feedback forms. How creative can we be to receive feedback during our “act” as it unfolds? Can we allocate people to come and their job is specifically to give us feedback?

5. Be Hypersensitive to address matters as they arise

A reputation management system has to be proactive. When you are caught out napping or when something goes wrong, one ought to respond immediately. You have seen people saying, “I will get back to you” and they take ages to do that. Why? It is simply because they lack a reputation management system.

Every single minute you lose not addressing a spoilt reputation reverberates even greater in spoiling that reputation.

I believe that if you had your reputation management system, it will go a long way in helping you to recover a lost or spoilt reputation.