I remember watching Iron Man (the first movie) sometime ago and something specific jumped out at me. At some point when Tony Stark was back from captivity, he called for a press conference and of course people rushed there to get a scoop. That was understandable.
The part that hit me was when Obadiah was looking for Tony and he was seated in front of the podium eating a second burger and did not want to get up so he told everyone in the room to sit on the floor and listen to him.
Every single one of them sat down.
That was major.!
They did not have to. If they had stood, they would still have heard him, they will not have been fired and nothing would happen to them, but this man...this guy who was not only a billionaire playboy, but a visionary, a genius and an escapee from a death camp was someone too big too just ignore. They literally did not know how to refuse him so they sat.
If pepper Potts had said that, even if she escaped from captivity, they would not have done it. If Obadiah, Happy Hogan or even Nick Fury asked for it, no one would have sat. Tony Stark got it.
Reputations and respect are built over time. They are built by hard work on how you comport yourself, how you speak, how you treat people. It does not come overnight.
Day and night you see people come here and out there in the world making noise about being men or women who are too big for this and too mighty for that. Everyone is making noise and posturing to be this tough, special, sound person and the truth is for a lot of people it is just hot air. When it comes down to it, you see there is no substance and the "rep" cannot be cashed anywhere.
Respect is a great thing but it must be earned. Basically you are building a brand for yourself that can speak for you when you are present or absent, even without you uttering a word. You cannot mouth your way into it or force it out of people to see you this way. The reason two people can walk into a room and one gets everyone's head turning and the other gets not so much as a nod in their direction is sometimes this very thing. It is even the same thing for posts here on social media. Some folks have this reputation for this and that. They did not just appear and boom, it happened. They were consistent with it.
It is sometimes worrisome and sad when I see people boasting how they respect no one and do what they like. Of course it is a lie and all a show. We all have at least one person we respect and we all would want to be respected in return. It is just that some people are just too lazy, confused or unwilling to put in the work. For some, they are just too shady in character. These are some of the reasons why their relationships and businesses suffer. Their reputation is one of not being someone that can be trusted or romantically involved with.
This year I have had to work with people and not pay immediately for one reason or the other. They agreed. It was because of my reputation. I cannot tell you how many times I did not pay someone on time because of my bank withheld money or some other reason. One time my bank even took all the money in my account and I was chasing after it for ages! This is not a joke. I mean every word and I had people to pay who said, "no problem. Sort it and pay when you have done so." I can go on and on.
No one came to my house to abuse me. I told them what happened and they believed me. It was my reputation I had and that was enough. It is not an idle boast when I say were it not for what I have built over time, I would have been in serious trouble. So this is not some abstract nonsense I am telling you. It is real and works day to day in many places you do not even know about around you.
You may never tell people to sit on the floor and they do it, but make no mistake, some day you are going to want your rep to speak for you about something. It could a job so you badly need. It could be your needing a loan from someone or some other form of help. It could even be you asking someone out on a date.
God help you if at that time, people simply hiss and ignore you because yours is worth less than the dust underneath their shoes...