A reputation is a great opportunity !

Most teenagers know more than adults and until they have children then they realize how little they really do know!

Something that does not cost much but is very valuable and once it is damaged is hard to repair is a reputation! We must emphasize starting at a very young age with every child that their reputation is very important. That reputation is not important to being cool with the right crowd, or the local gang or giving into peer pressure but is one of not doing anything that would damage the reputation which would keep one from pursuing goals in the future. I asked a student this past school year why he cheated on the test in the previous class and he said, "...because I thought I could...!" He had never considered the implications of his actions! We must help children and adolescents to see the opportunity that they have of a good name! Read below the article of Harvey Mckay. He is in many newspapers with a weekly column and you can get on his list to have his weekly article sent to you through email.

Reputation is much easier kept than recovered Jay Leno, comedian and host of the Tonight Show, says that when he was eight years old and living in a New York City suburb, he had a moment of clarity that changed his life forever. According to his piece "Why I walked away," in O: The Oprah Magazine, he was hanging out with an older, rougher gang of kids one day when one of the kids pulled out what was purported to be some pornography. One of the kids in the group, Leno noticed, was spinning a small pocketknife around in his hand. While Leno admits he was no angel at that point in his life, he says suddenly he stepped back from the group, which was collectively lurching forward to look at the pictures. He says in that moment he knew that he might possibly be starting down a path that would lead him nowhere in life. And so he turned and walked away. Leno says that every decision he has made in life since, in part, was based on that early decision to walk away from the crowd. He likes to think about the repercussions his actions will have on his reputation. It was a small moment, he says, one in which he learned how to make a conscious, moral decision for himself. My own father always used to tell me, "You spend your whole lifetime building a good name and reputation, and one foolish act can destroy it." Nowhere is that more true than in building a successful business. If you don't have a positive reputation, it will be difficult to be successful. I remember reading the results of a USA Today survey in March 2005 in which respondents were asked to rate the credibility of CEOs in various countries. Brazil led the way with 57 percent favorable, followed by China and Japan. CEOs in the United States were rated 25 percent. That's only one-fourth of the American people who felt CEOs were credible. I'm sure that what happened at Enron, WorldCom, Tyco and several other highly publicized cases had a lot to do with this poor opinion of CEOs. Reputation is one of the few assets that your competition cannot undersell or destroy. You can't put a price on a good reputation. A good name is like a second inheritance. Life is for one generation; however, a good name is forever. A good name is more valuable than riches. When I purchased an insolvent envelope company many years ago, I ran it under its previous name for a few years until I was sure I would be successful. Only then did I put the Mackay name on it. That's how important I regard a company's name and reputation. It is imperative in any activity to protect one's good name. And sometimes, of course, that is difficult. A frontier judge in Texas had just sentenced a notorious outlaw who had been caught stealing horses. As was his custom, the Judge asked the condemned man if he had any last words for the court. In his reply the outlaw said, "Judge, I've heard from everybody in this town how fair you are. A man devoted to justice under the law. A family man of good character. A kind man who is always ready to give someone a second chance. Everybody thinks you're wonderful. "But I gotta be honest with you, Judge. With this sentence, you done gone and ruined your reputation with me." Abraham Lincoln had a stellar reputation. When he was practicing law, a client asked him if a certain gentleman was a man of means. "Well, I reckon he ought to be," said Abe. "In fact, he's about the meanest man in town." Lincoln also was responsible for this gem: "If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how—the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference." Mackay's Moral: The reputation of a thousand years may be determined by the conduct of one hour.

For more Mackay Material: www.harveymackay.com/columns/default.htm

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation.Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

John Wooden , Past UCLA National Championship Basketball Coach

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