Question:
My former employees’ lies cost me a job. I was a finalist for a senior position when the prospective employer searched online when checking references and read the derogatory stories posted on Facebook by my former employee. The hiring committee let me explain that after I fired a dishonest employee for cause, he and his friends came after me on social media. While the committee believed what I said, they explained they couldn’t afford to have their clients and employees see the stories, and not trust their hiring decision.
With that job avenue closed, I opened a consulting company I’d honed through years of business development. Once again, these posts created problems, warning prospective clients to stay away.
The reputation damage from this social media smear campaign blindsided me. There’s not enough written about how individuals can repair reputation damage. I reached out to twitter and Facebook, but they refused to remove the defamatory posts, saying other users had the right to their opinions. The reputation damage consultants I found on the internet cost thousands of dollars. So, what do I do?
Answer:
You’re not alone.Each of us needs to protect our online reputation. As Warren Buffet said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.”
For individuals, defamatory posts can torpedo a job search or cause a painful brushfire that torches personal and professional relationships.
Those who run large and small companies similarly need to safeguard themselves from reputation hacks. A recent survey documents that 88 percent of brand executives view reputation damage as a top strategic business concern, https://prowly.com/magazine/brand-reputation-crisis/#:~:text=A%20whopping%2088%25%20of%20brand,into%20a%20financial%20deep%20hole. For employers, reputation proves crucial, as employees who trust their employers are 260% more motivated to work hard, and 50% less likely to leave, https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/insights/topics/leadership/brand-trust-and-challenging-orthodoxies.html.
Here’s your way through what’s happened to you.
Close the vacuum.
Those with reputations bombarded by negative misinformation need to realize they’ve allowed a vacuum into which one-sided defamatory posts can sway others’ opinions. Counter this reputation rot. When you ignore social media “noise” you allow others to create your narrative.
Flood the internet with quality posts on Word Press, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, until the positive content you create outranks the negative posts in Google search algorithms, pushing negative posts onto the second results page, viewed by less than ten percent of searchers.
Realize you can prevail.
You can rebuild your reputation and come out stronger, or at least whole. Consider how Bill Clinton, caught with his pants down in the Oval Office, reclaimed the national stage. Martha Stewart rebuilt a profitable, respected company after serving five months in prison.
Give others a reason to admire you again.
Reputation repair involves counterbalancing negative perceptions with truth. Here’s a painful question: Did those who attacked you have a point?
If so, don’t allow their posts to define your failure or your future. The key to fixing your reputation disaster lies in what you do next. Own up to your actions and confess your mistakes–without excuses. Chapter 19 of Navigating Conflict, https://amzn.to/3rCKoWj, comprehensively overs how to apologize and “The Right Way to Apologize,” https://workplacecoachblog.com/2021/02/the-right-way-to-apologize/ offers brief tips.
Legal options.
You can take legal action and have your attorney write a cease-and-desist letter. This sometimes works and can also backfire, leading your attacker to escalate.
Understand the potential danger.
Finally, those who’ve never experienced a reputation hack need to realize the potential exists. A surprising number of individuals voice inflammatory opinions on the internet. As I explained in Beating the Workplace Bully’s chapter 28, https://amzn.to/2UNMcyX, the fear of reprisal that squashes unbridled personal attacks in face-to-face interaction doesn’t exist online. Because Internet users can’t see each other, those who attack others dissociate their remarks from the hurt these postings cause real people. Further, angry individuals rejoice in the Internet’s widespread, instantaneous access and ability to inflict far-reaching damage with just one post.
Have others trashed your reputation? By closing the vacuum and building a positive narrative, you can emerge stronger than before.
© 2024 Lynne Curry, PhD, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
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What I like so much about workplace coach blog is that there always are action suggestions, and they are positive, upbeat and often tried and tested, by the author or by former and current clients.
What sometimes gets to me, though, is an almost tendency to blame the person bringing the complaint. I know all too well from personal experience that we can be our own worst enemies and that our actions may prompt negative reactions.
Even so, the complaint given here is that the poster fired a dishonest employee for cause. What’s the downside? Other dishonest employees were still there?–that would be a true problem. But what if that’s it–it was a dishonest employee, and the dishonesty was causing trouble in the business, not that the employer was overly ready to blame and punish people for observed character flaws and misbehavior, whether or not these affected much of anything else? What’s the employer’s “fault” here?
The dishonest employee may really have a crew of thug friends who will do anything to protect the dishonest employee from being called on anything wrong or illegal or unethical that they do? The idea of flooding social media with other kinds of laudatory posts, I like, and hopefully the employer has enough friends and fans that they could be asked to help in the laudatory-posting effort.
Susan, I always appreciate your insights and perspectives. You’re right, sometimes the person complaining has legitimate reasons, and going to social media offers an end-run around a power broker. That’s absolutely why digging in to what all sides have to say is so important.
Hi Lynn,
My attempt to get a libel review removed on Google failed. The person threated the safety of my staff and the Dr who provided care. I reported the threat and provided Anchorage Police with the recording of the threat. The police acted on the threat immediately. Within hours, the review was posted about our practice. Google said the review would only be removed by Court Order, even though I the police case number and the recording. Only when I received Google’s decision, did I reply to the review.
Suny, thanks for a helpful true story.
Thanks, Suny, for your spot-on true story.