You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do.

The line is widely attributed to Henry Ford in the context of his public emphasis on practical results over promises—an outlook shaped by the early, high-pressure years of building the Ford Motor Company and scaling mass production. Ford’s reputation (and his company’s) depended on delivering tangible improvements—reliable cars, lower costs, and efficient manufacturing—rather than aspirational talk. The quotation circulates most often in business and self-help settings as a maxim about execution, reflecting the industrial-era ethos Ford helped popularize: credibility is earned through completed work, not intentions or plans.

The quote draws a sharp distinction between intention and execution. Ford’s point is that reputation—how others judge your reliability, competence, or character—rests on demonstrated follow-through, not on plans, aspirations, or verbal commitments. It critiques procrastination and performative ambition: announcing what you “will” do can create the illusion of progress, but it does not generate trust. In professional life the saying functions as a warning against overpromising and underdelivering, and as an ethic of accountability: credibility accumulates from finished products, kept deadlines, and consistent performance rather than from future-oriented talk.

1) "You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do." 2) "You can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do." 3) "You cannot build a reputation on what you are going to do."