Sidney Harman’s take on the importance of reputation is notable.

Harman is 92, far wealthier than any of us — and probably in better health.  After buying Newsweek for $1 earlier this year, he merged it with Tina Brown’s Daily Beast, creating The Newsweek Daily Beast Company. Before the deal went through, his wife expressed concern over the hit his reputation would take if the merger fails.

“You don’t develop a reputation that permits you to survive against this high level of doubt if reputation is what you worry about,” he told Vanity Fair’s John Heilpern.

 “….If I do indeed have this great reputation, in large measure it’s because I’ve never given a goddamn about it.”