Edition #14 – The Power of Asking: What Am I Known For?
Every leader leaves a trace. Sometimes it’s bold and intentional. Sometimes it’s accidental — a trail of assumptions, impressions, and half-finished conversations that quietly define us more than we realise.
So pause for a second and ask yourself the deceptively simple question: What am I known for?
Not what’s in your bio. Not what you hope you’re known for. But what people genuinely say when you’re not in the room. Because that gap between reputation and intention is where most leadership growth begins.
Why it matters
Reputation is built in micro-moments. How you listen. How you follow through. How you respond when pressure hits.
Your credibility, can you do what you say you can do? Your reliability, do I believe you will do what you say you will? And you might think this is about trust, how I interpret trust and reputation is this:
Reputation opens the door. Trust determines whether people let you stay in the room.
You earn trust through the consistency of your actions, and that consistency writes your reputation over time. It’s not the keynote speech or the away-day workshop that defines you, it’s what people experience consistently, which brings us full circle to your reliability.
The most effective leaders I coach don’t chase titles or recognition. They build reputations that work for them: trusted, clear, consistent. They know that credibility compounds. Every interaction is a deposit or a withdrawal in the trust bank.
The reputation reality check
Ask yourself:
- What words would people use to describe me after a tough meeting?
- What do people rely on me for, without thinking twice?
- What am I accidentally known for and is that serving me?
It’s confronting, yes. But it’s also clarifying. Maybe you’re known for being the fixer, when you want to be seen as the strategic thinker. Maybe you’re known for warmth, but not for influence. Maybe you’re known for getting things done, but not for growing people. Reputation shapes opportunity. If you don’t define it, others will, truth be told, they already have.
Re-alignment
Once you see the truth of what you’re known for, you can begin the work of re-coding it if that’s what is needed. Small shifts. Conscious choices. Clearer boundaries. Reputation change isn’t a rebrand, it’s a behaviour pattern repeated until perception catches up.
Try this:
- Choose one word you want to be known for in the next six months.
- Build three daily habits that prove it.
- Tell someone you trust to hold you accountable.
Leadership isn’t about image. It’s about integrity. When who you are, how you act, and what people say about you finally line up — that’s when you start leading with real power.
Reflection Prompt
If three colleagues were asked to describe you in one sentence today, what would they say?