The easiest reputation to inherit is the one nobody expects you to question.

Inherited judgements arrive already agreed. A family or a workplace decides early that someone is difficult, or unreliable, or the sensible one, and by the time you arrive it has the texture of a fact rather than a verdict somebody reached under particular circumstances years ago. Nobody presents evidence, because nobody thinks any is required. The person concerned may have changed entirely and still be introduced by the old summary.

Pick a reputation you have accepted without examination, good or bad. Spend one honest conversation forming your own view, and notice whether the label survives it.