Reputation is all about having advocates to support you in time of crisis. An article in today’s Wall Street Journal on Lehman Brothers CFO, Erin Callan, supports this side benefit of building relationships before you need them. “To squash fears that Lehman could face the same kind of liquidity squeeze as Bear (now being acquired by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.), Ms. Callan has had hundreds of face-to-face meetings and phone calls with investors and trading partners. She aggressively roots out rumors, even while pushing her bosses to disclose more financial information.” Sounds to me like she is out winning the vote every day.

The risk is often worth the reward.

Yesterday turned out to be a fun day. I was a panelist at BlogHer Business ’08 conference in New York City. BlogHer is a community of women bloggers and the annual conference has become quite successful. The case studies presented were truly amazing.I was joined by fellow panelists Mary Clare Hunt (www.ecolutionarySelling.com), Janet Eden-Harris (CEO of Umbria) and Tara Anderson (evangelist for Lijit) and moderator Elana Centor (blogger and independent marketing consultant). Our topic was “Who You Are, Not What You Do.” However, it was fairly obvious to all us gals that we do what we are. As panelists, we were passionate about our jobs and what we were advocating (whether it was sustainability, reputation, online research, and start-ups). The audience was equally passionate, engaged and articulate about their entrepreneurial enterprises, blogs, or businesses. Lots of companies were there in support – Google, Hearst Digital, Fast Company, Kodak, Wiggly Wigglers, General Motors, Graco, HP. Although us panelists were not sure how all of our disparate jobs were going to tie together for the panel discussion, Elana made it seamless and fluid. I could tell that we all had fun which surprised us all. Of course, I got to talk about reputation and how to manage it online and offline. My company Weber Shandwick videoed the entire conference so it should be available online shortly. Take a look. I will post the link once I get it.

Please excuse my tardiness in writing of late. I was traveling in Europe to our offices, visiting clients and talking about reputation recovery. My laptop’s wireless broke and I was unable to post to my blog. Now that I am back in the U.S., I asked myself what fascinated me the most about my visit. Without a doubt, I have to say that I was shocked that the first question I was usually asked was about Eliot Spitzer. Prior to my visit, I had seriously prepared myself to talk about European corporate scandals such as SocGen, Deutsche Post and Northern Rock. Imagine my surprise when the first question was often about the governor of New York. I did not expect Spitzer’s reputation and moral downfall to reach so far so quickly. But then again, who is surprised by anything these days? Since my new book is about reputation recovery and redemption, I guess it should not have been such a surprise. (I was also asked why wives in the U.S. stand by their disgraced husbands. I was not sure why this is so.)

Here is what I think. I do not believe, like most everyone, that Spitzer can ever rebuild his reputation in the political arena. That chapter is now closed. But I do believe that he can repair his reputation in time by dedicating himself to the common good. Years from now, we may actually hear Spitzer say that this colossal public failure (even crime?) gave him an opportunity to do something with his life that he would never have imagined possible or contemplated. Yale’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld has written extensively about individuals who recover lost reputations over money, sex (less often) and other improprieties. Sonnenfeld’s recent book is called Firing Back: How Great Leaders Rebound from Career Disasters. In his chapter on “Lessons Learned from Legends and Losers” is his advice to “Know Your Own Story” — “…all of this entails knowing, telling and constantly retelling the leader’s story and to have an explanation for the downfall such that it enables faith in the leader’s ability to rebound.” Spitzer now has to find his own narrative to explain how his lost his way, betrayed his family and colleagues, and let New Yorkers down. He then has to find his own personal route to redemption and earn forgiveness.

Reputation forgiveness should not be ruled out.