Your Reputation Precedes You

References:
• “Revenge of the Sith,” Anakin and Obi-Wan vs. Grievous
• Galatians 2:1-10 NAS
• Proverbs 3:1-8 NAS
• Importance of a Reputation article

I am sure that many of you out there have heard the phrase, “your reputation precedes you.” But, have you taken time to think about what it really means. And especially, have you thought about what it might mean for you?
A reputation is something you build with other people, and with society as a whole, throughout your life. It is something that is based on the decisions that you make, whether good or bad. As we all make choices in our lives, we develop habits. Over time, other people see our habits and come to expect certain things from us. Even though a person may change over the years, a reputation that someone has can hinder a person from seeing those changes.

Word of mouth can be a very powerful thing. For example, a restaurant or business can gain a good or bad reputation based solely on the opinions of a few people who are very vocal or influential. If a lot of people had a good experience someplace and talk excitedly about it with their friends and family, then other people will become interested and try it. But, if a number of people have a poor experience and freely share that, then many people may not even try the business.

As this ‘word of mouth’ spreads, a person or business’ reputation will ‘precede them.’ That is, people will hear more and more about the experiences that others have had. As they hear these differing opinions and experiences, they will develop their own opinion before ever meeting the person or visiting the business. It is here that the reputation of the person or place ‘precedes them.’

Let’s take a reputation of a public speaker as an example. Let’s say that ‘Author’ is an energetic, thoughtful, and funny public speaker on motivation. When this person speaks in public, other people report that they enjoyed the lectures, found them encouraging and thought provoking, and left with a different frame of references for how they do things. Let’s also say that this person also is very warm and friendly while talking with people during a one-on-one setting.

As the person prepares to do a lecture in a new place, many people will read about or talk with friends about their experiences. Because so many people had such a good experience in the past, people will be interested in hearing this person’s lecture for themselves. Even though they may have no person experience with this person themselves, they have already developed their own opinions and personal expectations based on the experiences of others.

This can also be a very negative thing. Let’s say that a has worked for years as county prosecutor for years. This person develops the reputation of cutting corners at times with how he/she does their work, is very difficult to work with, often comes across as very mean towards people that are being prosecuted, is extremely argumentative with everyone, etc. Over the years, he/she sets their eyes on working for a prestigious law firm in a major city. Though this prestigious law firm wants aggressive people working for them to protect their interests, thus law firm has developed a reputation for being stern but not rude or obnoxious. They want to win their court cases, but they want to maintain a positive image for themselves and their clients. Even if the small county prosecutor may have tempered how he/she did things over the years, his or her reputation will probably go before them and either hinder their application, or even prevent them from having a chance.

As those of you who have been following my blog for a while know, I work as Custody Staff for the Nebraska Department of Corrections. It is a job that I have had for over 8 years. During that time, I have developed quite a reputation with many of the Inmates and staff there. This reputation is that I take my job very seriously, will enforce the rules, seek to treat everyone the same, and genuinely care about others. This reputation has greatly helped me on many occasions. I want to share a few of those with you.

Since I am trained to work in the Special Management Unit (SMU) and do my job well, I work there a lot. One particular day, I was working the Upper E Gallery. Because the co-worker who worked on the Upper F Gallery was busy taking care of things someplace else for several hours, I was responsible for two galleries, each of which had at least 15 Inmates. This particular day had a lot going on, so I was very, very busy.

The Inmates on the Upper F Gallery were accepting of this, but many on my Gallery wanted their (felt needs) taken care of immediately. They could care less about the many responsibilities that I had. They wanted me to do what they wanted, when they wanted. Needless to say, this led to many of them being extremely angry.

After a few hours, not only were they yelling at me at the top of their lungs, kicking and hitting their metal doors, making threats to flood the Gallery, threatening physical harm to me, etc. And, with the concrete walls and confined space, the loud echoes intensified everything. During count, the Case Worker assigned to our side of SMU pulled me aside and let me know of his concern. I simply told him I was aware of their anger and threats, and that since I was the only Custody Staff up there taking care of two galleries, I was doing everything that I could.

Not long after that, I was on the Gallery. As earlier, that was a lot of yelling, banging, threats being made, etc. Out of nowhere, I heard one Inmate yell very loudly, “Hey, I know this guy from when I was on the Incentive Gallery! If you give him a chance, he will work with you! But, if you continuously piss him off, he will start ‘writing you up’ (write a Misconduct Report) for every little thing!!” I completed what I needed to do at that time and walked off the gallery. As I did, I remember thinking, “That was weird…”

A little while later, I walked back onto the Gallery and found it oddly quiet. No yelling and screaming, no banging, just quiet. As I walked by one cell door, the Inmate said, “Corporal Underwood, I know you are really busy, but could you….” and he named his request. I took some notes and continued on with my gallery check. It struck me as very odd that the particular Inmate had been extremely vocal in his displeasure with me not even 30 minutes earlier. Now, he was talking to me in a normal tone of voice. As I continued with my gallery check, two other Inmates very politely asked me for something. I took notes and then left the gallery.

Because of the dramatic turn of events, I went through my lists of requests, got what I needed, and then returned to the Gallery. Once again, it was extremely quiet (compared to how it had been). As I talked with each of the different Inmates, they thanked me for their time and addressing what they needed, and let me continue with my work. The rest of my shift, over five hours, was like that.

My shift started with me working two galleries because my co-worker had other responsibilities at the time. For the last hour or so of my shift, he was offered the chance to go home early (something we could do at the time due to good staffing). Because of how quiet and cooperative my Gallery was now, I told him to take the time off, I could handle both galleries without problem. And it was a very relaxing night for me. Because of the reputation I had with one Inmate, who chose to share his experience, things were defused and we all had a better night.

Not long ago, I was working in visiting. As per procedure, I had to strip search each of the Inmates before they went in. This particular night, there was at least 10 Inmates waiting to go into visiting and I was the only one there to do the strip searches. As I was getting ready to start, they were getting very vocal about this displeasure that I was the only one doing the searches, that they were not going to get ‘all of our time’ with their friends and family, etc. Then, one Inmate said, “Hey, I know Underwood. He’s cool… He has a job to do, we need to let him do it. He will get us through as fast as he can.” I could literately feel the tension of the room drop. I opened the door to the room where I did the strip search and this Inmate volunteered to go first. Again, my reputation preceded me, in a way, because of the rapport I had with one or two individuals.

On many other occasions, this has worked to my advantage. Because of the rapport that I had with one or two individuals, or because of my reputation in general, I am often able to get the cooperation of other Inmates. They may not want to obey, and they may even vocally refuse what I instruct them to do, but they still do it.

As a Body of Christ, we as a local church and as individual members create a reputation with other people and with the community that we live in. As Christians, we are Christ’s ambassadors to the world around us. How we choose to interact with others within the Christian community, and with those outside of the local church, can make or break our witness. Because of choices that we make and how we act, people will either be willing to listen to our testimony about our relationship with Christ, or disregard it.

Have you ever stopped to consider what your reputation is? Have you thought about how it is preceding you? Although I know I had thought about it from time-to-time, I never appreciated its importance until I started working with the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. In the 8+ years working at the same prison, I have seen how one’s reputation can escalate or deescalate a situation. I have seen situations where no force had to be used because of one or two individuals with good rapport were involved. But, I have seen situations quickly escalate from bad to worse because of a person’s reputation.

A reputation can be very helpful or very harmful. It can also be changed, though changing a bad reputation can take a lot of energy and a lot of time. It is very much easier to destroy a good reputation with one or a few bad decisions. But, what we say and what we do are important. People are listening and they are watching. And these people are forming their opinions. Not only that, but they are sharing their opinions, experiences, and observations with others. This word of mouth can travel very fast and very far. We can easily walk into a situation tomorrow, or even years from now, and things will either go well or poorly solely on the reputation the precedes us now. Something to think and pray about…