Quote that represents me as a leader and the effort that I placed in the leadership program this year
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” – Warren Buffett, investor
This quote stuck out to me, and related to me because this year has been full of the unknown, controversy around the world, and a new trend called “cancel culture”, which starts by simply ruining your reputation. Being a leader, our main goal is to set an example to others, and lead with a good reputation. Building up your reputation to be presentable, and welcoming to everyone takes time and effort. The effort you put into having a good reputation could simply be always having a smile on your face, being nice to everyone, reaching out to help, and always being there for people. However, seemingly more often now than ever, ruining your reputation takes little to no effort. Whether it is saying something you shouldn’t have, or making an action that you shouldn’t have done, your reputation could be ruined. A simple statement can always be taken the wrong way, or can offend someone, which can lead to more than just a conflict. Being in this program, as well as working with children of young age, I have realized that having a good reputation is important, not just for being well liked , but also for being trustworthy, which opens up more opportunities for you in the future. I have been babysitting for the past three years now, building relationships with the children, as well as their parents. I often get told that I am someone that they hope their son or daughter can look up to, and someone they hope to stay in their child's life as they grow up. Having a good reputation for young children opens up more opportunities to babysitting more families once they put in a good word for me, as well as being known as someone they trust for their child to look up to. Being a leader is more than just a class, it is a skill. Having a good reputation comes with being a leader, and being someone a parents would like their kids to look up to. Ruining your reputation can take five minutes, so think before you take action.