This article is based on an article by Dr. Hogan
In the world of work, companies are constantly looking to better understand their employees in order to improve performance, retain talent and anticipate risky behaviors. However, confusion persists between two fundamental notions of personality: identity and reputation. While identity refers to how an individual feels about themselves, reputation refers to what others perceive of them. According to Dr. Robert Hogan, reputation — not identity — is what makes it possible to understand and predict workplace behavior. A major change of perspective in the evaluation of individuals in companies.
For decades, personality psychology has focused on the search for the “true self,” that profound identity that everyone believes they have. Gordon Allport, a pioneer in the field, said that everything was based on identity. However, this approach did not lead to any relevant results: no reliable taxonomy, no predictive capacity, and no solid link between self-perceived identity and observable behavior.
Conversely, reputation—in other words, the perception of others—proved to be much more robust. Thanks to tools like the Five Factor Model, it is now possible to measure personality through behavioral descriptions made by third parties, and to correlate them to concrete dimensions such as performance, employability or even job satisfaction.
The observation is clear: identity is a personal construct, while reputation offers a reliable indicator of past... and future behavior.
Reputation is built through social interaction. Each employee plays several roles in the company — manager, contributor, expert... — and it is in the way in which they assume these roles that their reputation is shaped. This external perspective directly influences managerial decisions: who deserves a promotion? Who is ready for a high-stakes project? Who should benefit from specific support?
Take the example of a person declaring themselves “unfit for work.” Despite concrete suggestions (such as becoming a truck driver), she categorically refused: “It's not me.” The result: a lasting absence of professional activity, justified by a fixed but counterproductive identity.
That's where social competence comes in: the ability to reduce the gap between how you feel about yourself and what others perceive. The most successful employees are those who learn to manage their reputation through feedback. This defines strategic self-awareness: not introspection into one's “inner self”, but understanding the real impact one has on others... and the ability to adjust it.
Introspection is often seen as a royal road to self-knowledge. However, the data shows that it does not constitute a competitive advantage. Figures like Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher or Donald Trump — incapable of introspection — have nevertheless had a meteoric career.
In reality, what matters in a career path is not what you think you are, but how you are perceived. Any information that is relevant to progress comes from the eyes of others. Isolated self-analysis provides nothing concrete, while feedback allows for real and productive adjustment.
Even worse, excessive introspection can cause harm: rumination, doubt, paralysis of action. On the other hand, effective leaders act, exchange and adapt their behavior continuously, guided not by their internal thoughts, but by the context and feedback from the field.
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