What are you known for? How do other people introduce you? Now, what do you want to be known for?

Building a reputation as an authoritative expert takes time and a focused, consistent effort. But before you put in that time and effort, you need to know exactly what reputation you want to build. You need to know exactly how you want others to describe you and the work you do, even when you aren’t in the room.

Once you’ve clearly defined the reputation you intend to build, you can use it as a filter. Everything you do — every article you write, every presentation you give, and every offer you make — either enhances or diminishes your reputation. As a result, it’s remarkably easy to inadvertently confuse your audience and diminish your reputation.

The good news is that you can always get back on track.

Not every opportunity is an opportunity.

Many of us got into consulting because we want to be of service. But if you’re not careful, your desire to be of service can erode the reputation you seek to build.

The erosion of your reputation starts innocently. A client or a colleague asks you to do something that is not core to your work, but is tangentially related. Because you know you can help, and you value the relationship, you say yes.

That leads to another request related to the first, but even less related to our core work.

Before long, most of your time is taken up doing work that is far removed from the work you want to do. And the grateful client or colleague you helped? They eagerly refer you to others so you can do more of the work you don’t want to do.

You’ve built an excellent reputation. But it’s the wrong one.

Several years ago, a colleague asked me if I would step in after a last-minute cancellation to facilitate a conversation with her community of emerging business leaders. Because she was in a jam, and I value our relationship, I wanted to help. She shared that several members of her community were feeling trapped into doing work that was neither part of their job description nor what they wanted to do. I’m quite familiar with that challenge, so we decided to focus the session on how to build and maintain a reputation that advances your career by knowing when to take on outside tasks and when to pass them along to colleagues.

We had a great conversation.

Two weeks later, my colleague invited me to join her and her planning committee to discuss having me speak at a digital summit for emerging leaders. In the email, she raved about the session I led for her community and shared some participant feedback. I was flattered and nervous. She clearly thought highly of me, but for all the wrong reasons.

Where you focus matters.

While it is easy to be led astray by our own good intentions, that’s not the only way to diminish our reputations.

As a consultant, your work is multifaceted. Each facet is part of a cohesive whole. The interconnected nature of your work allows you to tailor each engagement to meet the client’s needs. The facets of your work thus come in and out of focus during an engagement, with one more important at the beginning and another taking priority toward the end of the engagement. That ebb and flow is expected. But when you emphasize one element and fail to balance it with the bigger picture, you risk becoming better known for that part than you are for the whole.

When generative AI hit the mainstream in 2023, it was heralded as a panacea, especially for consultants. With a well-written prompt and the click of a button, you could generate social media posts, articles, client reports, legal briefs, graphics — anything you need. It’s like having a team of associates at your beck and call.

Or so we were told.

I never bought into the hype, but because my work is centered on writing, I am often asked about generative AI. From the very beginning, I have encouraged people to proceed with caution. In many spaces, especially in those heady early days, I was one of only a handful of voices asking that we pump the brakes. As a result, I was getting a reputation as a generative AI curmudgeon.

I don’t mind being thought of as a curmudgeon, but I was becoming better known for my stance on generative AI than I was for the work I actually do. Generative AI is a useful tool for the work I do — it is neither a panacea nor the devil in digital form. But it is only a tool; it isn’t my work.

So, when I stumbled across a Forbes article on generative AI that made my blood boil, I had to stop and take a deep breath. If I reacted to the article, I would further enhance my reputation as a generative AI curmudgeon. In so doing, I would diminish my reputation as someone who equips consultants with the tools they need to write articles for high-visibility publications and use those articles to achieve their business goals.

Recalibrate to get back on track.

When you realize you’re in danger of building the wrong reputation, it’s time to stop and take stock of everything you are doing so you can rebuild the reputation you intend to build. How you recalibrate depends on how you got to this point.

If your reputation eroded over time as a result of agreeing to do something only tangentially related to your core work, it’s important to shift your thinking. Not every opportunity is an opportunity.

Sometimes what appears to be an opportunity is really a distraction.

When I was asked to speak at the digital summit for emerging leaders, I was hesitant. I could certainly speak to emerging leaders about building their reputations through thought leadership, but I’m not qualified to talk about traditional leadership topics. And since this wasn’t a paid speaking opportunity, I had to evaluate whether accepting this invitation would help me get in front of the right audience. The more I learned about the summit, the more I knew it wasn’t the right fit for me, and I wasn’t the right fit for them.

I declined the invitation to speak at the summit.

But just because this opportunity was not a good fit for me, didn’t mean it wasn’t a perfect fit for someone else. I introduced my colleague to my friend, Kristen. A leadership coach who had risen through the ranks of corporate America, she could provide valuable insights to the emerging leaders attending the summit.

And she did.

When you are faced with an opportunity that is really a distraction, think about how you might turn that distraction into a gift. Who do you know who would appreciate such an opportunity? Who do you know who would be the perfect fit for such an opportunity? By making that connection, you not only protect your reputation, you also serve the person who extended the opportunity to you and the person you recommend in your place.

Accepting opportunities that are not directly related to your work is only one way to inadvertently diminish your reputation. The other? Focusing on one element of your work at the expense of the bigger picture.

When I first read the Forbes article about ways to improve your ChatGPT prompts “according to science,” I wanted to hop up on my LinkedIn soapbox and go on a full-throated rant. The article weaponizes science, implying the results of a single study are incontrovertible. (That’s not how science works.) It also explains that ChatGPT generates better responses when users lie and threaten punishment. It thus trains its users to be deceitful bullies in their written communication.

I love the dopamine hit that comes with a good rant, but I needed to take a step back.

I decided to share the article, my thoughts about the article, and my internal debate about whether I should or shouldn’t write about it on LinkedIn with my colleagues on a private Slack channel. The thoughtful exchange on Slack helped me clarify how and when I talk about generative AI. It also served as the genesis of this article.

When you find that you are spending too much time and energy focused on one element of your work, take a step back. What do you want to be known for? How important is this particular element to the whole of your work? Does it really warrant this much attention? If you are particularly energized about this part of your work, can you find a private outlet for conversations around that piece? How can you give the people you are here to serve a more complete picture of the work you do? By answering these questions, you can bring balance back to your body of work and build the reputation you want to build.

Building a reputation as an authoritative expert takes time and a focused, consistent effort. While you cannot control how your audience regards you and the work you do, you can choose what you share with them. And if you find that your audience’s perception is something other than you want it to be, you can change course.

Your reputation is your most valuable asset.

Protect it.