Useful guidelines about how to manage and develop your personal reputation. Practical advice about how to create opportunities by generating value to the people in your professional network.

1. Managing
your
Reputation
May/2020

2. Networking is
Overrated
• It is very easy to meet new people,
exchange business cards and create
a connection.
• However, it is much more difficult to
keep in touch with all these people
over time.
• The natural tendency is to simply
stop having any kind of interaction
with our new contacts until we
completely forget about each other.

3. The Business Cards Collection
Do you have a business cards collection? Please select one of them randomly
and answer these questions:
1. Do you remember where did you meet this person? Do you remember in
which circumstances did you meet?
2. Did someone introduce you to this person? Do you remember who
introduced you?
3. Do you remember the face of this person? Would you be able to recognize
him/her in the street?
4. Did you ever communicate with this person? Do you remember when was
your last interaction?
5. If you would see the name of this person somewhere else, would you
remember that you once met and exchanged business cards?

4. Benefits of a Good
Reputation
Having a good reputation means that:
• People will remember us. They will
remember us for many years since we
had our last interaction.
• People will recommend us. They will
introduce us to their own contacts
whenever they think we may contribute.
• People will constantly offer us new
opportunities. They will invite us when
they have a job opening, or when they
need a partner or an adviser.

5. Reputation =
Right Place + Right Time
• If you have a good
reputation your
name will be
present even if you
are not physically
present.
• People will mention
you in the right
context, at the right
places and at the
right times.

6. Networking vs Reputation
• Networking = You want to meet
people that may help you.
• Reputation = You create value for
people you may never meet.

7. Creating Value
• Be a Connector
• Curate Content
• Create Content

8. Be a Connector
• Connectors are the people in a community
who know large numbers of people and
who are in the habit of making
introductions.
• They know people across an array of social,
cultural, professional, and economic circles,
and make a habit of introducing people
who work or live in different circles.
• Connectors are “a handful of people with a
truly extraordinary knack [... for] making
friends and acquaintances”.

9. Connector Example: Head-Hunters

10. You are already a
connector!
You are already being a connector
every time you:
• Make an introduction between
two friends.
• Send the CV of a friend to
another friend who works for a
company that has an open
position.

11. You’ve many opportunities to be a connector

12. Curate Content
“Content curation is the process of gathering information relevant to a
particular topic or area of interest, usually with the intention of adding
value through selection and organization”.

13. Content Curation Example: Carol’s Guide

14. You are already
curating content!
You are already curating content
every time you:
• Share a video on WhatsApp.
• Send a link to an interesting
article to a friend.
• Recommend a book you read or a
movie you watched.

15. Become a trusted source of recommendations

16. Create Content
• “Content creation is the process of
generating topic ideas that appeal to
your followers, creating written or
visual content around those ideas,
and making that information
accessible to your audience as a blog,
video, infographic, or other format.”
• “Create something unique. Don’t
simply regurgitate the information
that’s already out there. Infuse a
unique style or cite new research to
emphasize your points.”

17. Content Creation Example: Carol’s Job Search

18. You are already creating content!
You are already creating content
every time you:
• Publish a post on Facebook,
Instagram or Twitter.
• Send a message to a group on
WhatsApp.
• Comment publicly on your
friends’ posts.

19. You follow people who create content

20. Developing Skills
1. Learn
• Acquire Knowledge
• Consume Content
2. Put your knowledge in
practice
3. Gain experience

21. Developing your Reputation
1. Learn
• Acquire Knowledge
• Consume Content
2. Put your knowledge in
practice
3. Gain experience
4. Teach
• Share your Knowledge
• Create Content

22. Learning by Teaching

23. Ask yourself:
• What do you know?
• That other people don’t
know?
• That other people would like
to know?

24. Your Product
• What do you know?
 Your Product
• That other people don’t
know?
 Your Differential = Scarcity
• That other people would like
to know?
 The Demand

25. Find your
Purpose!
Your purpose combines:
• Your vocation
• Your profession
• Your mission
• Your passion

26. Networking vs Reputation: Meetups
• Networking:
• You participate in Meetups.
• Reputation:
• You speak in Meetups.
• You organize Meetups.
• You invite people to speak in
Meetups.

27. Organizing a Meetup example: Moris Hasky

28. You are an Expert!
You can transform your
personal experiences on
valuable content you can
share with others:
• Unique projects
• Work for a big organization
• Work for the FIFA World Cup
• Work for the Olympic Games
• Helping people in need

29. Leaving your
Comfort Zone

30. Flow Theory:
Challenge X
Skill Level

31. Manage your
Online Presence
• Be active:
• Post
• Like
• Comment
• Share
• Be authentic:
• Have your own voice
• Be consistent
• Be professional

32. Checking Your Social Selling Index on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/sales/ssi

33. Recognition: When people post about you

34. Employability
• Employability = The ability to find a new job.
• Successful Career Path = A career path in which your Employability is
always increasing.
• Most professionals are afraid that as they get older it may become
difficult for them to find a new job.
• With proper planning and investment, many professionals can
actually increase their Employability as they get older.

35. 1st Stage: You actively look for a new job
When you are a fresh graduate or when you do not have much experience, you must
actively look for a new job.
The less experience you have, the less differences when compared to other candidates.
Your employability at this stage depends mostly on your performance at job interviews.
To be invited to job interviews, you must have a good CV.
At this stage you don’t even have many friends working for other companies who may
recommend you.

36. 2nd Stage: You
are invited by
head-hunters
You will be approached by head-hunters if
you have special experience and skills which
are highly in demand and hard to find.
Head-hunters will not contact you if your
skills are not in demand, or if there are many
other professionals with similar experience.
In general, head-hunters will offer you jobs
which are better than your current one.

37. How to move
from the 1st
to the 2nd
stage
Keep
Keep a rich LinkedIn profile with
detailed and relevant information so
that head-hunters will find you.
Acquire
Acquire experience and skills in fields
which are highly in demand and that
do not have enough supply.
Work
Work for companies which have a
reputation of hiring only highly-
qualified professionals.

38. 3rd Stage: You are invited to join a company
At this stage you are invited to join a company because of your unique
reputation, because you have proved achievements besides your
experience and skills.
You may be contacted by a friend or acquaintance who is a C-level
executive or a VP in another company. Or you may be invited to be a
co-founder in a seed-stage start-up.
In any case you will be offered a leadership position with greater
authority and responsibility than your current job.

39. Being invited
to join a
company
When you are approached by a head-hunter, they
want someone like you. The head-hunter will say:
 “You have the exact profile we are looking for.”
In contrast, when you are invited to join a
company, they want you. The invitation will be:
 “We want you to come work with us.”

40. How to move
from the 2nd
to the 3rd
stage:
• Build your reputation by making your
achievements visible. Become a recognized
authority in your field.
• Build your network by connecting to all the
people you have been in any kind of professional
relationship. This includes people you should
regularly meet in conferences and meet-ups.
• Achievements mean results. People must be
aware of your contribution to the companies
you’ve worked for. They must know that you had
a central role in the creation of new products
that were successful in the market and that
drove significant revenues to your company.

41. Opportunities
= Reputation X
Size(Network)
• The number of opportunities that appear to
you will depend on both your reputation and
the size of your network.
• Even if you have a very big network, most
people will not remember you if you don’t
make your achievements visible.
• On the other hand, it is not very useful to have
a very strong reputation in a small network.
• For example, you may be considered the
topmost expert inside your company, but this
would not help you get job offers from other
companies.

42. In Summary:
Successful
Career Path
Our goal should be to develop strategies to have a
Successful Career Path in which our Employability
is always increasing.
• In the 1st stage you need a good CV. The only
goal of the CV is to be invited for an interview
when you apply for a job.
• In the 2nd stage you need a good LinkedIn
profile. The goal of your profile is to make it easy
for head-hunters to find you and offer you a
relevant job.
• In the 3rd stage you need your name to be a
brand. You need to have an active presence both
virtually and in real-life events, so that people
will remember you.

43. Remember
• Building your
reputation is a
long-term investment.
• Your network is mostly
useful as an amplifier
of your reputation.

45. Recommended books by Dorie Clark

46. References from my blog
• https://effectivesoftwaredesign.com/2018/09/28/networking-is-overrated-focus-on-your-
reputation/
• https://effectivesoftwaredesign.com/2016/03/20/employability-and-the-three-stages-of-a-
successful-career-path/
• https://effectivesoftwaredesign.com/2019/05/30/inside-and-outside-the-comfort-zone/
• https://effectivesoftwaredesign.com/2015/03/24/finding-your-purpose-in-life/
• https://effectivesoftwaredesign.com/2012/09/24/continuous-learning-keeping-up-to-date-
and-acquiring-new-skills/