How to Stop the Bad Noise ?

When I coach folks regarding how to be more popular and influential, I explain to them about "noise". Some of you call it the rumor mill... From my view there are 3 types of "noise":

• Good: When your name arises, people say good things or request that you be on their team. Or when people are talking about good things/behaviors, your name comes up.
• None: Folks really don't ever talk about you and may not know who you are. (safe but not to influential or rewarding)
• Bad: When your name arises, people say negative things or try to avoid having you on their team. Or when people are talking about bad things/behaviors, your name comes up.

During my career I have generated both good and bad noise, and here is what I have learned:

• My good/bad actions and behaviors were directly responsible for generating the noise.
• Once generated the strength of the noise increased, because people start to spread it and look for facts that support it. (ie we see what we look for) This results in "he can walk on water" or "he is so difficult".
• Only through my consistently good actions/behaviors could I reverse the noise.
• It takes a lot of time and patience to reverse bad noise, however good noise can be reversed very quickly.

This strongly applies to the RAS community. People in the metro area spread bad noise about our community and school district often. (ie declining/low property values, poverty, questionable school academic results, community not supportive of schools, etc) The only people that can reverse this noise is us... but only through accepting responsibility for and learning from the past, accepting the current reality, and improving our future actions/results... Hopefully we can work as a community to reverse the noise instead of squabbling amongst each other. (ie strengthen it)

Check out this Speed Blog for some more discussion on this
-