The Lawyer Life Podcast

How to Build a Stellar Reputation

• Autumn Noble • Season 2 • Episode 48

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Your reputation isn’t just about what you say—it’s about what others say when you’re not in the room. A strong, positive reputation can open doors, create new opportunities, and establish trust in your career or business. But how do you build one intentionally? 

Your reputation is one of your most valuable assets. Whether you’re a business owner, lawyer, or professional looking to grow your influence, this episode is packed with actionable insights to help you build and maintain trust in your field. 

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Autumn G Noble (00:00)

You are listening to the Lawyer Life Podcast, episode number 48, How to Build a Stellar Reputation.

 

Did you know that the average job tenure in the United States is approximately 4.1 years? This means that for most of us, at some point in our life, we're gonna be starting a new job. Add to that new relationships, moving, meeting in-laws for the first time. There's all those critical firsts where we want to start thinking about the impression that we're making in building a reputation that aligns with who we want to be.

 

In today's episode, I'm unpacking the science behind reputation building and first impressions and giving you some critical tools on how to build a reputation that aligns with the career that you're wanting.

 

Specifically, I'm going to be unpacking four ways to protect your reputation. And before that, I'm going to set the foundation with the science behind reputation building.

 

Your reputation and what other people think about you and what you're capable of is one of the most important assets in your career. It determines how your colleagues, your clients and industry leaders think about you.

 

and potentially how successful you are.

 

While the actual skills of lawyering are important as well as your expertise, it's those soft skills and how you show up for other people, handle challenges, and build relationships that will ultimately define the opportunities that come your way or don't come your way.

 

Today, we're exploring how to build a strong professional reputation rooted in trust, integrity, and influence.

 

Whether you're just starting out or looking to strengthen your standing in your community, these strategies will help you build a name that people will respect and remember.

 

Before we dig too deep in today's topic, I want to set the stage for how this information fits into some of our earlier discussions. For those of you that have listened to prior episodes or worked with me in coaching, you know that we talk a lot about how we have to let go of trying to control what other people think about us. This is very different than recognizing the science behind impressions and reputation and putting ourselves in the best position to get the results and the reputation that we want.

 

We can't control what other people think about us, but we can put ourselves in the best possible position to make sure that the thoughts that they're having about us are potentially positive. From that point, if we've done the best we can, that is where we let go and just step into the notion that we can't ultimately control what they decide to do with the information that we've provided to them. So today is about those early stages in all relationships and making sure that we do our

 

best to provide the best kind of data for others to use in drawing conclusions about who we are.

 

So let's start with the evidence. There is some evidence from psychological research that suggests

 

that it can be very difficult for people to change their opinions about you once they are formed.

 

According to science, this is due to several cognitive biases that I'm going to talk about today.

 

The first is called the halo effect. Once people form a positive or negative impression of someone, they tend to attribute other positive or negative qualities to them, even if those qualities aren't actually related. So for example, if someone sees you as competent in one particular area, they may assume that you're also competent in other areas as well, even if they don't have any evidence to support it. That's the halo effect. Once you've been

 

Attributed one quality, kind of snowballs or grows to attribute other similar qualities to you for your benefit, whether it's true or not true.

 

Two, confirmation bias, which is something we have talked about before in several episodes. Once an impression is formed, people are more likely to notice and remember information that confirms their initial opinion and ignore or downplay information that contradicts it.

 

This means that if someone initially perceives you negatively, they might focus on your mistakes or flaws and disregard your positive qualities. It's as if we put on blinders that ignore any information that contradicts our initial conclusions about other people, good or bad.

 

Three, first impressions. Research has shown that first impressions are incredibly powerful.

 

People often make judgments about others within seconds of meeting them.

 

And those impressions can stick even when contrary evidence arises.

 

Overcoming a negative first impression typically requires consistent and long-term effort to demonstrate the opposite truth.

 

That's not to say that if you've made a poor first impression, it can't be fixed. But what it does mean is that on a cognitive basis, it's difficult for us to kind of turn the ship around once it started in one direction.

 

4. Cognitive Dissonance

 

Once someone holds a particular belief about you, they're likely to experience some type of discomfort or dissonance if they're presented with contradictory information.

 

In order to resolve that discomfort, they might rationalize or dismiss any new information rather than change their original opinion about you.

 

This bias in particular makes it harder for people to revise their views about you even in the face of new evidence. However, it's not impossible.

 

Proving yourself over time can gradually shift their perceptions, although it can take more effort than changing someone's mind about something less personal.

 

Given all of these cognitive biases, it may seem like an insurmountable task to try and change your reputation or create a different reputation for yourself. And that is not the message I'm trying to send here, but rather just understanding that sometimes once impressions have been made or conclusions have been drawn, we have to put in a little bit of extra work to shift the tides. So no matter where you are in your reputation building or relationship building,

 

These next few tips are going to help you change that reputation with consistency or set yourself up for success out of the gate.

 

First and foremost, reliability. is the foundation of trust in any good reputation.

 

If you truly wanna have a positive experience with others and leave them with a positive impression of you, being someone that others can rely on is crucial. It is the foundation of a strong reputation, which means following through on your commitments, whether to clients or colleagues or even just to yourself. When you say that you're going to do something, showing up and actually doing it.

 

Not only does this mean consistently meeting deadlines, which is a given, but it also means delivering high quality work consistently, which implies not taking on more than you can handle and being able to discern what you are actually and reasonably capable of doing. So just because you can stay up all night long doing something, it doesn't mean that you should because when you have to bend so far to show up,

 

and satisfy the obligations that you set for yourself, that does not create a positive reputation. Over time, people will see that. So truly, it's about learning when to say no in order to protect your reputation of providing timely and good work, but also caring for yourself and maintaining that reliability as well.

 

this may require you to communicate clearly to those around you if something needs to be adjusted or if something needs to be taken off of your plate. When people know that they can depend upon you, they're more likely to trust you with bigger responsibilities, referrals, and career opportunities. But when we don't build that foundation of reliability, people are always going to be questioning whether or not you're going to actually follow through on the things that you're telling them. And that is hard to come back from.

 

This is something that I see so often with lawyers at all levels of their career is just being overextended and not being able to follow through on their commitments to themselves or those around them. So if you have not done your work and really developed your time management skills,

 

I strongly encourage you to start devoting some time there

 

It is those time management skills that will allow you the ability to discern what your limits are and when you need to bring in additional support.

 

If you haven't already, be sure to check out my time management webinars and mastery workshops located in the downloads and freebies section of my website where you can start learning how to better manage your tasks, your to-do lists, as well as your personal life so that you can build that reputation of reliability.

 

Number two, honesty and transparency, which seems very obvious, but I see it time and time again, this inclination to hide our mistakes. And that is really at the root of this topic. And that is owning when you do something wrong or any mistakes that you have made. Nobody's perfect. Even the best attorneys make mistakes. And if you challenge yourself to look around you and identify mistakes that others have made, you will know

 

that that is simply part of life and it's part of being a professional. But the other piece of it is being able to show up and acknowledge when things don't go the way that you want them to or when you've just flat out dropped the ball.

 

Yes, it's incredibly frustrating to make mistakes, to disappoint your coworkers or your clients. But you want to be able to own the mistake quickly so people can focus on and remember

 

how you showed up with humility and honesty and made it right. You don't want them to remember how you tried to hide it or how you tried to shirk the blame or put it on somebody else. if you miss a deadline, simply acknowledge it and propose a solution. If you don't know something, say so and then find the answer. And this is a big one.

 

for attorneys at all levels. think we always feel like we're supposed to know everything. And truly, I have found that the most impressive professionals are those that openly and honestly admit when they don't know something, it builds trust and it builds respect.

 

your clients and your colleagues are going to be a lot more forgiving when they see honesty and that type of authentic transparency builds credibility and dishonesty really erodes that trust and sometimes sets you back permanently and irrevocably. As I said before, those biases are going to make it very difficult. So if we try to cover up an error and people find out about it, it's going to be really hard to come back from that.

 

not because people hold grudges, but simply because of the way that our brains work. I have many clients at different levels of their careers, and I will tell you the ones that I see again and again that are tremendously successful are those that are willing to simply own their mistakes to their clients. They spot them, they address them openly and honestly and very quickly, and they propose solutions. And time and time again, I have seen that those clients stay with them. They don't fire them. They don't berate them.

 

or judge them for making a mistake, but rather that humility brings the client closer to them and makes them trust those attorneys even more.

 

Three, the power of discretion and really taking seriously the confidential nature of our work.

 

As attorneys, we know that maintaining client confidentiality is essential and core tenant of the work that we do, and we take oaths around those requirements. But what about the discretion that comes in the workplace, and where does that fit into building those reputations?

 

Gossiping about colleagues, sharing sensitive firm matters, or leaking information can severely damage your reputation. You want to think of your reputation as founded upon trust at its core. And trust is built when people know that they can confide in you without fear of exposure. Whether it's a personal matter about a coworker or details on a firm initiative, respecting that privacy is really key.

 

asking yourself, would I want this repeated if it were about me? And if the answer is no, keep it to yourself. Avoid engaging in that kind of workplace gossip, but instead focus on building a reputation as someone who is trustworthy and professional. When I was a young attorney, this really came to the forefront for me. had a...

 

a new document management system, which I think everybody is utilizing these days, but it was 16 years ago when we were just making the transition. And I was researching a particular matter And what I pulled up were emails saved by another partner on the project.

 

And what she was not aware of was that in the email string that I was reviewing for the work I was working on, she had actually bad-mouthed another partner and was gossiping about another partner with the practice group chair. And she had saved all of those emails to the document management system and everybody could access them. And I remember just thinking, you know, why would you send that?

 

on company email and why would you save that to the document management system? And just seeing that type of mean girl kind of behavior really changed all of our perceptions of that particular partner. And it made all of us really not want to have anything to do with her.

 

because we all took those emails as an indication of her character and our ability to trust her. It had nothing to do with us, but it certainly turned how we interacted with her and the types of things that we were willing to share with her moving forward.

 

You can imagine the type of impact that that had on our group's morale. Eventually, the partner that was the topic of these snarky emails, she found them too. And it really kind of dampened the whole spirit within the group because we now all knew that this particular partner and our chair, our boss, regularly gossiped about another partner in their firm emails. And it made us all trust both of them a heck of a lot less.

 

And fast forward a few years, everybody left and nobody stayed. And partly it was because I think the diminished work culture within that team.

 

This brings me to number four, professionalism and respect.

 

Your reputation really is in the small details.

 

The way that you treat people around you at all levels truly shapes how you are perceived in your career. And this can include being disrespectful to assistants or paralegals or other junior staff, keeping emotions in check during high stress situations, whether you lash out at other people or have any kind of a meltdown. People file that information away, treating opposing counsel with civility, even in adversarial cases. People do remember.

 

how you made them feel and not just what you did. And as I think back to my early years in lawyering, I don't remember the specific things that a handful of partners said to me that upset me and left such a bad taste in my mouth, but I remember how I felt. And I remember how they made me feel small and uncomfortable and untrusting and just at dis-ease in the whole firm because of little things that had happened that I can't even remember now.

 

I know sometimes in the legal profession, it may feel like some of the more brutal and ruthless individuals get advanced to leadership positions, but I see time and time again, the individuals that have to work under that type of a culture leave and it becomes a bit of a revolving door that the firm then has to try and resolve and walk back that particular type of reputation. So while it may seem like those are the people that get ahead, I implore you to invest in the long game.

 

and believe that showing up with professionalism and treating the people around you with dignity and respect is truly the way to create lasting and meaningful success with a team that wants to work with you and isn't going to leave in a drop of a hat.

 

An example of this in my personal legal career where I've kind of seen a full circle karma moment was thinking back to my early years of practicing and some of the individuals that made me feel really insecure and uncomfortable and I think were outright cruel, crueler than they probably should have been. Years go by and I'm in house with a Fortune 300 company and everybody wants the work.

 

and here these people come out of the woodwork trying to butter me up, trying to get together and meet with me in hopes that I would give them some of our business. grossed me out and was really truly disturbing their lack of self-awareness and thinking that that would be something that would yield a positive result for them.

 

They may have forgotten the things that they said, but I never forgot the way that they made me feel. And that stuck with me years into advance to their own detriment. And so truly part of building a reputation that supports your growth and development is being mindful of how you're treating people and how you may be making them feel

 

and going the extra mile to ensure that you are caring for the people around you and treating them with dignity and respect.

 

This brings me to number five, the long-term benefits of a strong reputation. And it truly is that full circle moment that I just discussed. Having a good reputation, it doesn't just help you in the short term and in your present, but it shapes your entire career years into advanced. When people trust and respect you, they're more likely to refer clients to you, offer career opportunities to you, support your business, support your practice growth.

 

and see you as a leader in the legal community.

 

I have seen secretaries rise to VP levels of publicly traded companies and I've seen associates who struggled in their early years but then became industry leaders. The common thread here is that they focused on relationships and integrity and trust. And just like I had in my own experience, when they get to those higher levels and those upper echelons of success, they're going to look back and remember the way that others treated them. And you want to be looked upon

 

fondly as someone who was kind and someone who was reliable and trustworthy. And so by starting early and treating people with kindness and generosity, you set yourself up for that potential full circle moment down the road where you've built a community of people that look to you, trust you and respect you.

 

As I said at the outset, it can be really hard for people to change their opinions about you once they are formed. And that is really good to know. We have to be cognizant of the impressions that we're making with others challenging ourselves to answer, did I show up as my best or is there more work for me to do in that relationship to try and leave an impression that's more in alignment with who I want to be?

 

The benefits of doing that work and going through that process are multifaceted,

 

but will absolutely contribute to your long-term success because you just never know where people are going to end up. And putting in the legwork to protect your reputation, to show up as your best is going to put you in the best possible position to capitalize on those positive relationships down the road.

 

If you are making any kind of a career transition or working to rebrand yourself in your current space, be sure to reach out and schedule a free coaching consultation. I would love to talk to you about some of these reputation building tools to see if we can start planting seeds today for your future success.

 

I hope you will reach out and get that free consultation and some support to create the career of your dreams. can't wait to meet you and support you on your

 

And perhaps you're just interested in meeting me and having a chat one-on-one to expand your network. Don't hesitate to reach out and schedule a virtual coffee with me. I'd love to hear about the work that you're doing, the challenges that you're having, no obligations, no hard sales, just an opportunity to meet, ask me any questions and hear a little bit more about the work that you're doing.

 

And if you haven't already, if you're enjoying this content, be sure to leave me a positive review on your podcast listening platform. I would so appreciate it. And as always, thanks so much for listening and thanks for sharing with your friends.