Quite a few years ago, I realised I had a reputation problem. People knew me as “the person who gets shit done under pressure” and “the firefighter you call in to attack an urgent problem”. I thought this was a good thing, until one afternoon when I bumped into my CEO in the kitchen and casually mentioned that I was in the process of getting my MBA. His withering response (complete with perplexed facial expression):
“Oh… why?”.
These two simple words triggered one very painful revelation for me: the most important person in the organisation, who I had worked with on an almost daily basis for years, did not think of me as MBA material. If he could not fathom why I would need to develop strategic thinking, leadership or advanced business management skills, then he clearly didn’t think I was a possible future leader within his organisation.
Until that moment, I had been confident in my own potential and had just assumed that others perceived me in the same way. That day I learned the hard way: your reputation isn’t based on what you’re capable of doing, but on what people think you can do. And what people think you can do is based entirely on your reputation - the narrative that exists about you in rooms you’re not in.
If you’re known for the wrong things, then it really doesn’t matter how capable you are, you simply won’t get the opportunities that align with where you want to go. The good news: your professional reputation isn’t fixed. With some intentional effort, I did eventually manage to reposition myself with the CEO and move onto more senior positions and with the strategic approach I’ve outlined below, you can too.
The reputation problem isn’t about being bad at your job, it’s about being known for things that don’t serve your next career move. Below, I explore four common traps that will limit your progression.
Trap 1: The Strength That Becomes a Ceiling
You’re really good at something, so you keep getting asked to do it. You say yes because you want to be helpful and because you know you’ll succeed. Over time, you become “the [X] person”—and that’s all anyone can imagine you doing.
Examples:
You’re great at execution, so you’re always given operational work but never strategic projects.
You’re the technical expert, so you’re consulted for your knowledge but never asked to lead the conversations.
You’re the person who handles difficult employees, so you’re always dealing with the ‘problem children’, but never building out the high-performing team.
None of these qualities are issues in themselves but when your strength becomes your brand, your brand becomes your ceiling.
Trap 2: The Last Big Thing You Did
People’s memories are short and your reputation is largely based on the most recent, visible thing you’ve done. It’s actually unnerving how quickly people will forget your entire track record.
If your last big project was operational excellence, you’re “the operations person.” If it was turning around a struggling team, you’re “the fixer.” No matter how much strategic work you’ve completed in the past, if it’s not recent, it’s simply not going to register.
Trap 3: The Invisible Expertise
You’re doing sophisticated, strategic work, but it’s not visible to the people who make decisions about your career. Perhaps it’s going on behind-the-scenes or maybe you’re not communicating about it effectively. Maybe you’re giving credit to others and not articulating your role.
Whatever the case, no matter how excellent your work is, your reputation just isn’t reflecting it.
Trap 4: The Self-Imposed Label
Sometimes you’ve accidentally created a limiting narrative about yourself through how you describe your work.
When you say “I’m just focused on keeping my team running smoothly”, they hear: “I’m an operational manager, not a strategic one”. When you say “I tend to be more detail-oriented”, they hear: “I can’t see the bigger picture”.
These may seem like small or inconsequential statements, but the words you use to describe yourself shape how others see you and can build up a strong impression of you over time.
If you find yourself caught in one of these traps, then don’t panic! You can intentionally position yourself for the career trajectory you want, using the following guide.
Step 1: Define Your Target Reputation
Most managers skip this step. They want to be known for “being good at everything” or “being good at my job”, but that’s not a positioning strategy.
To clarify your target reputation, ask yourself: “Three years from now, what do I want senior leaders to immediately think of when my name comes up?”
Be specific. Some strong examples include:
A strategic thinker who connects business outcomes to team execution
A cross-functional leader who drives results through collaboration
A talent developer who builds high-performing teams that scale
An innovative problem-solver who challenges the status quo productively
Wherever you land, your target reputation should:
Align with the next level you’re working toward
Differentiate you from peers
Be supported by work you can actually do (not aspirational fantasy)
Be memorable and clear
Step 2: Audit Your Current Reputation
You can’t reposition if you don’t know where you’re starting, so you need to find out what people actually think of you now. Here are some suggestions to get you started:
Seek Direct Feedback: Ask your manager: “What do you think I’m known for organizationally? What’s my reputation?”
Try the 360 Approach: Ask 5-7 colleagues (peers, skip-level, cross-functional partners): “If you had to describe my professional strengths in one sentence, what would you say?”
Conduct the ‘Opportunities Test’ Look at the projects and opportunities you’ve been offered in the past year. What do they tell you about how people see you?
Review the results and write down the common themes. This is your current reputation.
Step 3: Identify the Gap
Compare your current reputation to your target reputation. What’s different?
Example:
Current: “Execution-focused manager who delivers reliably”
Target: “Strategic leader who builds scalable systems”
Gap: Need to shift from execution to strategy, from individual delivery to building systems
Your repositioning strategy needs to close this specific gap.
Step 4: The Repositioning Actions
Once you know the gap, here are the tactical moves to close it.
Strategic Project Selection: Stop saying yes to everything. Start saying yes strategically to projects that build your target reputation. If you want to be known as strategic then say yes to: Cross-functional initiatives, business planning, new market exploration. Say no (or delegate) to: Firefighting, tactical execution, troubleshooting existing processes.
Every project you take on either reinforces your current reputation or builds your new one. Choose accordingly.
Change Your Communication Language: The words you use to describe your work shape how others perceive it. Move from execution-focused statements like, “My team delivered the project on time”, to strategy-focused ones like, “We redesigned our delivery approach to reduce cycle time by 30%, which enabled us to respond to market opportunities faster”
Same work. Different framing. Completely different reputation impact.
The Strategic Conversation Shift: In meetings and conversations, change what you contribute. If you want to be seen as strategic, then stop jumping in with tactical solutions and start asking strategic questions such as “How does this connect to our annual goals?” or “What’s the three-year vision here?”.
If you want to be seen as a talent developer, stop attending every meeting alone and start bringing team members to meetings and creating opportunities for them to contribute. Your participation style signals what you value and where your expertise lies.
Create Visible Evidence: Make your repositioned work visible to decision-makers by writing strategic memos or analyses that get circulated to senior leaders; presenting at forums beyond your immediate team and publishing thought leadership (internal blogs, company newsletters, external platforms). The work you do in private won’t build a reputation, only visible work can do that.
Curate Your “Highlight Reel”: When people ask what you’re working on, don’t give a comprehensive list. Give them the 2-3 things that reinforce your target reputation. Instead of: “I’m working on team planning, three customer escalations, the budget review, and a new process improvement”, try: “My main focus right now is redesigning how we approach customer retention with a cross-functional working group. Early results show we can improve retention by about 15%. Happy to share more if you’re interested.” This reframe highlights the strategic work, quantifies the impact, and demonstrates cross-functional leadership.
Mistake 1: Trying to Be Known for Too Many Things
You can’t be known as “the strategic person AND the execution person AND the technical expert AND the people developer.” Pick one or two core elements and own them.
Mistake 2: Saying You’re Strategic Without Doing Strategic Work
Talking about being strategic while continuing to do purely tactical work creates cognitive dissonance. People notice the gap, so make sure you’re keeping an eye on it and closing it through meaningful action.
Mistake 3: Repositioning Too Fast
If you go from pure execution to pure strategy overnight, it feels inauthentic. Make the shift gradually and blend the old and new for a few months before fully pivoting.
Mistake 4: Not Managing Up
Your manager needs to understand your repositioning goals. If they keep assigning you work that reinforces your old reputation, your repositioning will fail.
Have the conversation: “I want to shift my focus toward [target]. Can we look at my project portfolio and make sure I’m getting opportunities that build in that direction?”
A Final Word
Repositioning takes time. It will likely take 6-12 months of consistent signals before your reputation meaningfully shifts.
You can’t do one strategic project and expect to be seen as strategic. You need to establish a pattern of:
Leading strategic projects;
Consistent use of strategic language;
Regular visibility in strategic contexts; and
Sustained demonstration of strategic thinking.
Remember: Your reputation isn’t what you are, it’s what people think you are and this is what will determine which opportunities come your way. So, stop leaving your reputation to chance and start positioning yourself intentionally for the career you want. Your future self will be glad you did!
If this helped, fuel my next idea with a coffee ☕️
Welcome to The Curated Career. Advancing with intention, not intensity.
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