Your Reputation Is Traveling Without a Chaperone.

Last week I mentioned the crow’s ability to not only remember your face but communicate all of your evil deeds to its friends, family, and offspring.

How do we know this? Well, at the University of Washington, where scientists clearly had more time on their hands than they knew what to do with, they put masks on before antagonizing a crow … and then found that whenever anyone wearing that mask showed up among the flock, or in front of any other birds from that crow’s most noble lineage, they were immediately recognized as a ne’er do well and treated as such.

So what does that mean for us as business owners?

Instead of a bird recognizing your face … think instead of your reputation.

What is your reputation? What is the reputation of your business?

It is not the sum of what you have done and who you have helped. It is what others have learned to expect from you. And you have no control over how it is being shared.

You are not in the room for most conversations where your name comes up.

What have others learned to expect from you?

And remember the Crow here. The crow doesn’t wait for multiple data points to map a pattern to. One meaningful interaction often sets the record and is dutifully shared with the flock.

Have you ever failed to follow-up with someone? Showed up to a meeting underprepared? Forgotten to make a referral you offered to make?

Those experiences aren’t forgotten.

Whether you intend it or not, you are teaching everyone around you what to expect. And whether you like it or not, they will be sharing their experiences with others.

The crow doesn’t discriminate.

Have you ever given someone a ton of clarity during a one-on-one? Provided a referral out of the blue when you met someone relevant? Supported someone else’s efforts by flexing your network? These too are remembered, and shared.

Nobody reading this gets a new client from a billboard. Every firm owner reading this built their business on relationships. Which means your reputation isn't a nice-to-have. It's the whole game.

Attorneys talk to other attorneys. Financial advisors talk to other advisors. Your clients, your customers, are all talking to each other. It’s a small world.

The point isn’t that people are talking. It’s that your reputation is traveling, and it’s doing so without a chaperone.

As you stop reading this, in the quiet of your car or in the shower, think of the last three meaningful professional interactions you had. Think of the last three meaningful professional interactions you had with referral partners.

What did you teach those people to expect from you?

And who have they told?

Your next client is probably one conversation away from someone you've already met. The crow in this story is your referral network. It remembers. It talks. The only question is what it's saying.

Be a crow. Pay attention, remember everything, and never stop learning.

Hit reply or reach out. Who is one person in your network you have been meaning to follow up with and have not?