A reputation is an asset built slowly over years. It is a fundamental, critical and public assessment of a person’s character. This tool enables others to know ahead of time what to expect of another person. His or her abilities and how they have been utilizedd over a period of time and in various circumstances give the public shared insight into the person’s trustworthiness, skill set, intelligence, and other factors.
There are also people we instinctively – whether we know their reputation or not – mistrust. These people flaunt an air of menace. In a notable melée in Waco, Texas on Sunday, May 17, 2015, nine people were killed and 18 injured in a brawl that broke out spontaneously between motorcycle riders of various gangs. 170 people were charged. All who were pictured in the media were people who projected menace intentionally, as part of their business. Five gangs had met to discuss turf and recruitment issues. Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said, “They were not here to drink and eat barbecue. They came here with violence in mind.”
Ask anyone released from prison if it’s easy to repolish a tarnished reputation. The answer is no. It takes time and effort to prove one has “reformed.” Often inmates start this process by going to school while in prison, or by becoming trusted by the management, but both these approaches can backfire if they irritate other inmates. Getting that first job after being released can be a very difficult proposition.
In my novel, “Skyscrapers,” my character Vern Webb Sr. had been a drug dealer and enforcer but he had evaded prison. He used his drug money to in effect build a wall between his past and his intended future. He left New York and the drug scene, moved to Chicago, and worked hard to acquire a college degree and an MBA. It took time. He paid for it with the illegal money he had acquired through the drug industry. But when he graduated with the MBA, he jumped into the world of management. He invented a past to cover the years he was in New York, and made his stellar grades his entry into a new world. His toned-down arrogance made him seem confident. He got married, not once but twice, and had two sons. One had his weakness for substance abuse, and the other his brain-power plus some.
When the assault upon his reputation comes at the beginning of the book, he is profoundly upset. He has not entirely divorced himself from the drug industry, he is laundering Chicago-based drug money through his legitimate business. He knows this could be discovered if somebody digs hard enough: many a reputation has been shattered by scrutiny after going on for years unchallenged and unquestioned. How “Skyscrapers” plays out is an example of a reputation that was repolished but not sufficiently: the question is, if Vern had not implanted the drug laundering business inside Midwest Industries, would he have gotten away with his reincarnation as a brainy MBA for the rest of his life? It’s possible.
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