The document discusses the importance of reputation and how to build and maintain one. It notes that reputation is the cornerstone of power and influences how others judge you. It provides examples throughout history of leaders like General Rommel who used their reputation to their advantage. The document advises establishing a reputation for one outstanding quality and protecting it strictly. It also suggests associating with those who have a good reputation in order to improve a bad reputation.

1. Law #5: So Much Depends
on Reputation – Guard it
with your Life
Tariq Al-Basha @ albashatariq@outlook.com 1

2. WHY IS
REPUTATION
IMPORTANT?
▪ Reputation is the cornerstone of power. In the
social realm, appearances are the barometer of
almost all our judgments.
▪ Your reputation will protect you in the dangerous
game of appearances, distracting the probing
eyes of others from knowing what you are really
like, and giving you a degree of control over how
the world judges you — a powerful position to be
in.
Tariq Al-Basha @ albashatariq@outlook.com 2

3. WHY IS
REPUTATION
IMPORTANT?
(CONT.)
▪ A strong reputation increases your presence and
exaggerates your strengths without you having
to spend much energy.
▪ It can also create an aura around you that will
instill respect, even fear.
▪ In the fighting in the North African desert during
World War II, the German general Erwin Rommel
had a reputation for cunning and deceptive
maneuvering that struck terror into everyone
who faced him.
▪ Even when his forces were depleted and the
British tanks outnumbered his by five to one,
entire cities would be evacuated at the news of
his approach.
▪ As they say, your reputation inevitably precedes
you, and if it inspires respect, a lot of your work is
done for you before you arrive on the scene, or
utter a single word.
Tariq Al-Basha @ albashatariq@outlook.com 3

4. WHY IS
REPUTATION
IMPORTANT?
(CONT.)
▪ During China’s War of the Three Kingdoms
(A.D.207-265), General Liang was able to fool his
rival Sima Yisimply by letting his track record for
being an undefeated leader in battle do the
work for him.
▪ Liang’s troops were far outnumbered by Sima
Yi’s, yet he devised a clever last resort plan.
▪ Liang donned a Taoist robe and played the lute
upon the wall of the city he was defending. His
soldiers opened the gates and hid.
▪ When Sima Yi’s troops advanced upon the
unguarded city, Yi recognized his opponent
sitting alone upon the wall. Fearing a trap, Sima
Yi called his soldiers to retreat.
Tariq Al-Basha @ albashatariq@outlook.com 4

5. HOW TO BUILD A
REPUTATION?
▪ In the beginning, you must work to establish a
reputation for one outstanding quality, whether
generosity or honesty or cunning.
▪ This quality sets you apart and gets other people
to talk about you. You then make your reputation
known to as many people as possible (subtly,
though; take care to build slowly, and with a firm
foundation), and watch as it spreads like wildfire.
▪ Reputation is a treasure to be carefully collected
and hoarded.
▪ Especially when you are first establishing it, you
must protect it strictly, anticipating all attacks on
it.
Tariq Al-Basha @ albashatariq@outlook.com 5

6. HOW TO BUILD A
REPUTATION?
(CONT.)
▪ Make your reputation simple and base it on one
sterling quality.
▪ This single quality—efficiency, say, or
seductiveness—becomes a kind of calling card
that announces your presence and places others
under a spell.
▪ A reputation for honesty will allow you to
practice all manner of deception.
▪ Casanova used his reputation as a great seducer
to pave the way for his future conquests; women
who had heard of his powers became immensely
curious, and wanted to discover for themselves
what had made him so romantically successful.
Tariq Al-Basha @ albashatariq@outlook.com 6

7. Tariq Al-Basha @ albashatariq@outlook.com 7
Never appear desperate in your self-defense against the slander of others
Sow doubt and spread rumors about your rival
If you go too far in attacking another’s reputation, it draws more attention to
your wrongfulness than to the person you are slandering
Use humor or gentle mockery at your rival’s expense

8. HOW TO
IMPROVE A BAD
REPUTATION?
▪ Perhaps you have already stained your reputation,
so that you are prevented from establishing a new
one.
▪ In such cases it is wise to associate with someone
whose image counteracts your own, using their
good name to whitewash and elevate yours.
▪ It is hard, for example, to erase a reputation for
dishonesty by yourself; but a paragon of honesty
can help.
Tariq Al-Basha @ albashatariq@outlook.com 8

9. HOW TO
IMPROVE A BAD
REPUTATION?
(CONT.)
▪ When P. T. Barnum wanted to clean up a
reputation for promoting vulgar entertainment,
he brought the singer Jenny Lind over from
Europe.
▪ She had a stellar, high-class reputation, and the
American tour Barnum sponsored for her greatly
enhanced his own image.
▪ Similarly the great robber barons of nineteenth-
century America were long unable to rid
themselves of a reputation for cruelty and mean-
spirit.
▪ Only when they began collecting art, so that the
names of Morgan and Frick became
permanently associated with those of da Vinci
and Rembrandt, were they able to soften their
unpleasant image.
Tariq Al-Basha @ albashatariq@outlook.com 9