Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Rule #5 So Much Depends on Reputation - Guard it With Your Life

 Law 5
So Much Depends on Reputation – Guard it with your Life

"Reputation is the cornerstone of power.  Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once you slip, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides.  Make your reputation unassailable.  Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen.  Meanwhile, learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations.  Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them."



There is nothing more important than building and protecting your reputation.  Some people spend their whole lives carefully crafting their reputation piece by piece only to see it crumble before their eyes.  Nowadays it is even more important to carefully guard your reputation from potential attacks simply because there are so many more opportunities for your enemies to ambush you from all sides, due to the prevalence of social networking technologies, blackberry messenger, and more.  At the same time though, those who can leverage and utilize these new gadgets that have defined the information age are likely to build a powerful network that will help at building a solid reputation.



R E P U T A T I O N   I S   E V E R Y T H I N G  -  G U A R D   I T   W I T H   Y O U R   L I F E


"For as Cicero says, even those who argue against fame still want the books they write against it to bear their name in the title and hope to become famous for despising.  Everything else is subject to barter: we will let our friends have our goods and our lives if need be; but a case of sharing our fame and making someone else the gift of our reputation is hardly to be found."

Montaigne, 1553-1592     

To a degree, everyone around us is like a mystery that can never be solved or understood fully.  No matter what sort of appearances someone presents, there is always a part of it that is simply an act, and it is nearly impossible to penetrate and probe the hidden layers of the mind.  That is why most people choose to rely on appearances to make their judgement on an individual instead of carefully investigating their actions and true motives.


The reason why reputation is so crucial to building and maintaining a power base is because "it gives you a degree of control over how the world judges you," meaning that you essentially have a force field that can repel attacks for you without even having to do anything.  Beware though, kinks in this protection generated from your reputation can be pierced and shattered if pressed against a weakness that you have left unguarded.

For example, professional athletes are always under pressure to perform to bring victory to their team, even after wining a championship, there are doubts raised about using performance increasing drugs, the whole reputation and victory can turn into disaster.


The key to building power is to focus on one particular aspect of your reputation that is your greatest strength,  whether it be in charm, grace, civility, leadership, seductiveness, or more.  Continue to focus on this one aspect and once it grows larger, and begins to become better known, watch as it spreads like wildfire.


Never take your reputation for granted, there is no reversal to this law, and ruining your reputation is very likely to deal blows to you to the point where recovery will be a long and painful process.  If this does happen though, and your reputation takes a nasty hit from an enemy attack, you could try joining forces with someone with a greater image, if they will allow you to recover from beneath the shadowy protection of their own reputation.

Thanks for all the great comments on the last few posts, i'm going to put up a poll pretty soon to gauge what you guys are liking about these posts, and how they can be improved.  I'm still fairly busy with school, but i'll try to find the time to update this blog as often as I can, as I know there are some readers out there who really enjoy reading these posts.  Make sure to check out my other blogs, their are links above.





32 comments:

That Which Haunts said...

Another fine post. Your name and that which is associated become a legacy. Using MJ as an example is perfect due to the associations it presents. Earlier generations will have mixed emotions, while younger will only know the worst. Same thing applies to a lot of celebrities, historical figures (Alexander the Great), locations (Germany for example), and so on. Your reputation is something to not only be guarded but something you honorably represent, and in doing so better yourself as a person. Or at least being the best you can creates the better reputation.

Austin Da Silveira said...

great post, love that got juice pic

Janus Kane said...

BlueRad my friend, your words ring with a certain wisdom that is so hard to find these days. I love stopping here on my blogruns, its a real fucking pleasure. Youve got alot of spirit in your words, alot of passion mate. And its damn sound advice, which is equally rare these days ;)

Keep up the amazing blog mate, I'm following faithfully
-JKane

Mutefox said...

"...perhaps the desire of the thing called fame will torment thee.- See how soon everything is forgotten, and look at the chaos of infinite time on each side of the present, and the emptiness of applause, and the changeableness and want of judgement in those who pretend to give praise, and the narrowness of the space within which it is circumscribed, and be quiet at last. For the whole earth is a point, and how small a nook in it is this thy dwelling, and how few are there in it, and what kind of people are they who will praise thee."

Zerron said...

good post dude defintly worthwhile

Unknown said...

I wish I had a reputation to worry about

melinko said...

this is so true

The Greater Spartan said...

Well i hope i will have it XD

Helldozer said...

Wow, this post is really an eye opener. The Michael Jackson reference is really spot on with the material, too.

3milelimit said...

insightful posts, always a good read!

MikeNeuman said...

Very true although reputation is based on others perception not always the truth.

riffmaster said...

just got to point out that a reputation might make people want to attack you. if you have no reputation, you will not be attacked, as people have no oppinion of you. you can also hide under anonymity, and become faceless, having a reputation, that you can not be attacked for.

MC said...

michael jackson is the posterchild

Quinn Electronics said...

got juice lol

Dyaitsidyam∂ said...

so so so true.

Leon Kennedy said...

This is a great post. Really gives you something to consider.

lovebloggin said...

good picture about reputation

Anonymous said...

insightful post

Lord Humungus said...

excellent review, will read again.

deltree2 said...

i was just listening to MJ =/

The Angry Vegetarian said...

So very true. I've found that if you tarnish your reputation it's hard as hell to come back from. I've had lots of friends and acquaintances go down because of this.

Eferhilda said...

I have experienced first hand the benefits to a reputation and then the down side when it was attacked and basically destroyed by a larger more powerful enemy who used their reputation to basically destroy mine.

Trippin said...

Its crazy how much your reputation matters and how easily it can be tarnished if you're not careful.

Joshua said...

I wish I could give you a proper reply but you've taken the words right out of my mouth. Reputation is everything in life and success.

mast3rcloak said...

ever read "brave new world?"
this really reminds me of that book and the overall theme that knowledge is power.

Joebloggs said...

I have a pretty decent rep in my opinion

Unknown said...

Just don't let it take over your life...

Retired said...

Very nice post!

the grim said...

Reputation is somthing that many take for granted, even though it could turn a man's world upside down, if you have a reputation of a rich man, people will give you free expensive gifts and hope that will make you spport them, and if you have a poor man reputation, no matter how much you spend people will think that it's all came from loans, or that it's "dirty money"

Arkanyn said...

i love your blog!

J.Name said...

i'm trying to keep a good reputation, i don't very much of myself though lol

dream said...

amazing read