Every group I speak to about identity vs. reputation, it seems, contains at least some people who are outraged by the notion that, at Hogan, we focus on reputation while ignoring identity. I think I have heard cries of “Witch!”  “Scofflaw!”  “Heretic!”  “Hotdog!”  from the back of some conference rooms (OK, I might have heard that last one at a baseball game) when I have stated that we focus on making predictions on the basis of one’s reputation, and that we really don’t care so much about trying to make predictions (about job performance, potential, etc.) from one’s identity. Given the outrage that statement produces from some people, I thought it might be useful to clarify 3 points here for those clinging to the notion that identity is the most important—or only—thing to study about the individual if you want to make predictions about the workplace.

The first reason Hogan focuses on reputation is that it is well-understood and easy to study. After all, at Hogan, we like to save time at the end of the day for happy hour, so why not use time efficiently by focusing on phenomena that are scientifically observable, well-researched, and well-understood, rather than spending time on issues like identity, for which there is no measurement base and no consistent measurement taxonomy despite about 100 years of discussion and research. When the Big 5 emerged 60 years or so ago, the study of personality changed; modern views of the structure personality start with the Big 5, or the structure of personality from the observer’s point of view, rather than starting from one’s identity. Using identity as a starting point for studying personality in the workplace at this point in history would be akin to the modern medicine using the medieval diagnostic technique of discerning imbalances in the 4 bodily humours. 

Second, let us assume for a moment that you don’t believe in science as a method for problem solving, so our focus on using science is disturbing to you. It’s important to note that science is not a belief system, so you might as well state that you do not believe in dominos or concrete. Science is a method for problem solving, whether you believe it or not. Moreover, the fact that you believe that you are dashingly handsome, ravishingly beautiful, and the smartest guy or gal in the room (aka, your identity) hasn’t exactly resulted in members of the opposite sex beating down your door, now has it? So perhaps belief shouldn’t be the standard by which you make judgments about science. Science is not a belief system, and the science used in personality psychology is the same as the science used to send a person to the moon; both use the same scientific methodology and the same standards of verifiability, neither of which is subject to belief.

Third, even if we assume for a moment that your disbelief in science nullifies all of the research that leads us to focus on reputation vs. identity, there is a practical matter that you would be wise not to overlook, and it is perhaps the clearest reason why one would want to focus on personality defined as reputation. Please answer true or false to the following questions:

1. Someone other than me decided whether I would be hired into my current role.
2. Someone other than me decides how my performance will be evaluated.
3. Someone other than me decides who will agree to date and/or marry me.
4. Someone other than me decides whether I will get a promotion.

Scoring and interpretation (count each “True” answer as 1 point)       

• If you scored 4 Points, you now understand why reputation is superordinate for study in the workplace and identity is not; all consequential decisions in life involving other people are based on who they think you are, not who you think you are.
• If you scored <4 points – you may be self-employed and lonely, independently wealthy and lonely, or schizophrenic and lonely.
• As a practical matter, other people make and act on decisions about you all day every day—and those are based on your reputation, not on your identity. Given the importance of reputation, don’t you want to understand something about it?

Here at Hogan we have a lot of conversations about pretty complicated stuff, and odds are, if you are reading this, you have at some point been on the other end of one of those conversations. It is always our goal to simplify concepts into language that is more readily understood. It’s not that we are more intelligent than those with whom we speak, but we live and breathe personality assessment and the vast majority of people (read: normal people) don’t. One concept that seems frequently misunderstood is identity vs. reputation. Identity is how we view ourselves, reputation is how others view us.

The easiest way to explain this concept is in terms of American Idol. Even if you don’t typically watch the show, you have probably seen at least one audition from someone who either blew the judges away with their talent, or their horrendous lack thereof. Let’s focus on the latter: the people we’ve watched get crushed by the judges’ words. What’s fascinating is that at some point those poor souls decided that they possessed the vocal vigor to become a star. According to their identity, they could actually do something great. Their reputation is what the judges perceived, and as we’ve all seen, there is often a significant disparity between the two.

Why is this so important? If the contest were to be based on performers’ own perceptions of their talent, the show would need to be called “American Idols,” as everyone would be a star. The truth is that performers’ assessment of their own talent is largely irrelevant – success depends on how others rate their ability to sing and perform. The same can be said for the vast majority of our daily activities and interactions, particularly in occupational settings. Business success depends on results, not sense of self. Challenges to getting along and getting ahead emerge when we fail to realize that our internal story is trivial to others; it is the external perception of our behavior that truly matters. As harsh as it sounds, unless you are on a first date or sitting around a table of drinks with friends, the story that makes you you just doesn’t matter.

Now, I can see your wheels turning and hear the words formulating in your head: “But wait a minute…I have seen a Hogan assessment and it asks people to answer questions about themselves. If reputation is more important, then why do you ask someone about their identity?” It’s an excellent question and the answer is much more straight forward than the means through which it was accomplished. The Drs. Hogan found that, although relatively irrelevant, identity is a very reliable means of predicting reputation. The assessments do ask identity based questions, however, the results report how others generally perceive people who answer the questions in that way. To make that simple, we are not going to tell you about yourself, as you know a lot more about you than anyone else. We will, however, tell you how others are likely to describe you based on how you describe yourself. Furthermore, we will help to provide you with the wisdom to become an American Idol, or perhaps to know when you should walk away from the stage.

Two major online dictionary publishers released their choices for 2013's Word of the Year. The contrast between these terms struck us as an excellent metaphor for a key tenet of personality assessment - identity versus reputation.

SELFIE - 2013 Word of the Year from Oxford University Press

self-ie /sel-fee/ n. In use since 2002, selfie saw a 17,000% increase in use over 2012 - thanks in no small part to everyone from Miley Cyrus to Barack Obama keeping it in the news.

Definition - According to Oxford press, selfie refers to a photograph taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media site. Most teenagers, college students, or celebritites will tell you the perfect selfie can be elusive, requiring repeated poses to get just the right look.

Personality Perspective - Identity relies on personality from the inside - the way we see ourselves. As with a selfie, identity doesn't tell anyone much about the real you. Finding the right angle with the camera is really just impression management, showing others only what we want them to see. And as Sigmund Freud used to say, "the you that you know is hardly worth knowing."

SCIENCE - 2013 Word of the Year from Merriam-Webster

sci-ence /'si-en(t)s/ n. First used in the 14th century, science saw a 176% increase in lookups this year over last, and remained at the top of the list throughout the year.

Definition - Merriam-Webster defines science as knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through scientific method. At Hogan, that means using a massive volume of proven data to predict job performance.

Personality Perspective - Reputation refers to personality from the outside - the way others see you. Hogan's scientific assessment of reputation produces a data-based, multi-dimensional picture of who you really are, giving you strategic self-awareness to build and maintain successful careers and relationships. And unlike identity, reputation remains stable over time.

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The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology posed this question using standard game theory – strategic decision making – in a recent social experiment. In the experiment, two people interact, each with the option of competing or cooperating. If both cooperate, both win; if one competes while the other cooperates, the selfish person wins even bigger.

Participants were provided information regarding the other person’s reputation as either selfish or cooperative. As expected, if a person expected to interact with someone with a reputation for selfishness, he or she would behave selfishly, but if a person expected to interact with someone with a reputation for cooperation, he or she would tend to cooperate.

The real kicker, however, concerned a particular wrinkle. In some cases, researchers would provide participants with both data regarding the other person’s performance and description of that person’s reputation. Participants invariably trusted the reputation rather than the data.

What does this mean? That reputation trumps fact in some cases. That’s why self-awareness and reputation management are essential to the success of our daily interactions. To learn more about how reputation can affect every aspect of your work relationships, check out our ebook Who Are You?

For most people, there is a vast disparity between identity (how you see yourself) and reputation (how others see you). This disparity causes them to overestimate their strengths, ignore feedback, deny their shortcomings, and, ultimately, damage their reputations.

Take Michael Scott from The Office, for example (possibly the worst offender of this disparity). Reputation descriptor that comes to mind? Clueless. How would he describe himself? Well…

How his coworkers would describe him? Impulsive, poor attention to detail and social cues, terrible listener, offensively insensitive…the list goes on. While his staff is consistently loyal, most employees wouldn’t put up with a boss this unaware.

Socioanalytic theory draws on key ideas of Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud, and George Herbert Mead to explain why people act as they do. All three writers noted that humans evolved as group living animals; this suggests that the big problems in life concern: 

• Getting along with other people
• Gaining status and power
• Understanding one’s place in the world

In modern life, individual differences in the ability to solve these three problems translate into individual differences in career success. Successful people live longer and healthier lives and are better able to care for their dependents - and that is the definition of fitness in biology.  Thus, Socioanalytic theory is about career success. 

Socioanalytic theory defines personality from two perspectives: Identity and Reputation.  Identity concerns who you think you are; reputation concerns who we think you are.  Research on identity has produced few useful generalizations; in contrast, research on reputation has been highly productive; e.g., the Five-Factor Model - a taxonomy of reputation - is a useful way to organize personality research findings. Past behavior predicts future behavior; reputation is a summary of past behavior; thus reputation is the best possible data source for predicting future behavior. 

Socioanalytic theory focuses research in four broad areas: 

1. Personality and job or occupational performance
2. Personality and leadership effectiveness
3. Personality and managerial incompetence
4. Personality and effective team performance (team research historically ignored effectiveness)

Occupational performance, leadership effectiveness, and managerial incompetence can be predicted with valid personality measures. Team effectiveness depends on putting the right people (defined by personality) in the right positions (defined by team role). 

Socioanalytic theory argues that social skill is the key to career success - because social skill translates identity into reputation. Socioanalytic theory also maintains that feedback from valid personality assessment can create strategic self-awareness which allows ambitious people to maximize their career potential and minimize their issues.