Early on you’ll trade sleep, money and free time to get ahead. Just don’t trade your name.

Early trades are mostly recoverable. Sleep comes back, money can be earned again, free time returns when the season ends, and all of it is a fair price for getting somewhere. A reputation takes years to build, can go in an afternoon, and travels through people you will never meet. One bad decision in that column outlasts every good decision in the others.

So draw the line in advance, before a situation turns up with reasons attached. Decide now that you do not lie about numbers, take credit that is not yours, or blame somebody junior. Those arrive earlier than you would think.