My name is my reputation. And my reputation is in my name. People either trust Brent Barootes / Partnership Group – Sponsorship Specialists® or they don’t or they don’t know us well enough to make that judgement call. And if it is the latter, they will go to people they know (lol… or Google ratings… lol) to see what others think. Your business, your charity, sports team, event, festival, or whatever rides on your reputation. If it is not good, your long term, if not short-term success is very limited. And that goes for your personal reputation as well.
So, things like how long it takes for you to respond; how punctual are you on agreed upon timelines, the quality of your work, what other say about you, how you treat others, how you speak about others all matter. The problem is that I feel in too many scenarios I am exposed to these days… none of those things seem to matter. People’s integrity levels have lowered. Their care for their reputation is declining. The focus is on closing the business deal as quickly as possible and making the most money as possible. I do not live in that world. I am lucky though, our business is solid, it has been operating for almost 25 years and we have the luxury to say no to partners and clients we do not feel have the same level of integrity / reputation that we do. We can walk away.
I honestly believe our reputation is good. People trust us. People refer us, people vouch for us. Most importantly, people hire us. So, in simple terms… how did we get here. What “pillars” did we have to follow? What lines did we cross or not cross? How did we determine what is ethical and what is not? You can do some pretty complex process and procedures. I could make a list of all the things we do and make sure they are done every time. But I am a pretty simple guy and like to make things as simple as possible to follow. I was lucky… I was in Rotary for over 30 years (an amazing organization by the way…) and I learned a simple test on how to conduct business (and your personal life). I have shared about this before but think it is long overdue to be shared again. It is called The Rotary Four Way Test! Four very simple questions to ask and if you can honestly answer yest to all four, you are good to move forward with whatever it is your are testing or wondering if it is ethical.
Of all the things we say and do….
- Is it the truth?
- Is it fair to all concerned?
- Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
- Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
So, my ask is, please try and implement these four questions into your daily routine and for everything you say or do… ask these four questions. If the answer is yes to them all you and your organization will thrive. And when the answer is no to one of them… don’t move forward… don’t engage until it is corrected.
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