THE CHARACTER TREE

Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing. ~ Abraham Lincoln

I’ve been thinking a lot about the essence of reputation over the past few days. That’s because one of my friends was insensitive and unkind toward me, and he justified doing so because his behavior helped preserve his good reputation among the clientele of the business community in which he worked. From an economic standpoint, my friend’s logic made perfect sense because reputation in the business world is recognized as having an intrinsic financial value. Businesses with good reputations tend to reap much higher profits than those with bad ones. The same often applies to the people who run them.

Character, on the other hand, is seldom measured in financial terms. It’s recognized as having value, but not as having an intrinsic financial one like reputation. When former baseball manager Leo Durocher famously stated that “nice guys finish last,” he was recognizing that good character doesn’t always carry the day. A more jaded view would contend that it seldom carries the day, but that’s a discussion for another time. I’m more interested in the difference between reputation and character.

Consider a famous fashion designer whose line of clothing enjoys a good reputation for style and quality. People will pay exorbitant prices to purchase that designer’s clothing, despite the fact that the garments may have been manufactured in third world countries whose workers were laboring under deplorable working conditions. In that instance, the designer’s reputation is valued more highly than his or her questionable character for permitting the mistreatment of workers who produce the clothing.

Why is reputation so valued in our society and character relegated to the dustbin of irrelevance? Why are the words of Abraham Lincoln, which we know intuitively to be true, ignored in favor of the lure and rewards of the shadows of reputation? Why did my friend treasure the value of his reputation over the character of our friendship? I wish I knew!

When Abraham Lincoln stated that reputation was like a shadow he knew what he was talking about. If we’re honest in our self-evaluations, few of us are nearly as good as our reputation for goodness or nearly as bad as our reputation for misbehavior. Yet, we pay more attention to the façade of our reputation than to the core of our character.

A therapist once advised me to stop worrying about what other people thought of me, and focus instead on being the person I wanted to be. I remember thinking that it was easy for her to dole out such advice when she had a secure job and a stellar reputation and wasn’t facing the prospect of unemployment with the mark of a pariah on her back. I told her as much and she chuckled for a few moments. Then, she started asking me about how I felt about myself when I had the high-paying job and stellar reputation. That’s when I had to confront the sad, but honest truth that I felt empty inside. That’s because that good reputation was merely a façade hiding an empty core.

I wish I could convince my friend that reputation is not worth sacrificing character over, but that’s a tough sell in a world that all too often rewards reputation over character. It’s hard to make the conscious choice to walk in a different direction. Maybe that’s why Lincoln equated character with the strength of a tree. He knew what it took to grow one.