When I was in junior high school, students talked a lot about one's reputation. He/she has a reputation, was a common way of talking derogatorily about an individual. Our mentors asked us often, What kind of reputation do you want? Thinking back, I realize that while the idea of reputation was discussed widely, no one went deep with the word--it wasn't discussed as a choice with both historical and current perspective, but instead thrown around like a football, a sport, a weapon, and a threat.
What kind of reputation do you want to have? That should be a question that mentors, family members, and educators ask young people regularly as they discuss an individual's choices? Questions that support this discussion include the following:
- What do you see as your strengths--characteristics that give you a good reputation?
- What do you see as your weaknesses--characteristics leading to a poor reputation?
- In ten years, how do you hope people perceive you?
- What are you working on in order to build a good and honest reputation for yourself, and why?
- What areas of your reputation do you struggle with, and how do you deal with that? How can you improve those areas, and in what ways do you seek support to do that?
To have a good, honest reputation, earns you opportunity, positive relationships, and confidence. The weight of a poor reputation repeatedly takes you down time and again.
Given the news of the day, this is a good time to discuss with the young people you mentor, the idea of reputation, and what you can do to foster the best possible reputation now and into the future. Onward.