You Are the Author
How many times have we heard stories of company culture, leadership styles, or good/bad reputations? Every person, leader and organization comes with a story. Sometimes individuals feel they are unfairly portrayed, or leaders think they can’t control what other people think of them, and organizations don’t consider their own reputations seriously enough.
Every person, leader and company is the author of the stories people recount about them. This statement comes with opportunity and responsibility. There will always be situational circumstances where the story may not be great, but generally people will share their experiences in a broader way.
People will use these reputations to navigate places to work, individuals to work with and leaders to align to, or avoid. Here are some phrases that may sound familiar.
“Man! He’s such a great leader. He really cares about his people.”
“That company is trouble. They only care about making money and not about their people.”
“She is brutal to work with – not trustworthy at all.”
“That company really cares about their people – such a great place to work at.”
“She’s an amazing leader – so thoughtful and caring.”
“That guy is crazy! Good luck!”
“They’re a screamer. Not good to work with.”
“He’s very demanding, but fair.”
“That team is awesome! They welcome people so warmly.”
“No one has anything good to say about them.”
“That leader really cares about culture. He’ll never make it in this company.”
“I’ve never had a problem with them, but I know others who have.”
“It’s amazing. He remembers everyone’s name. So nice.”
Some of these statements are hard to take in, but they are based on the script that the person/company/team in question wrote, and those expressing the statement have experienced.
There will always be challenging times with employees whether situational or overall, but the greater majority of how people experience you will win out.
If you as a person, leader or organization want people to share great experiences about you, write the script that leads to that. Be caring, thoughtful, trustworthy, and supportive. You are the author of the story people tell.
