Among the less remarked-upon benefits of a well-managed public picture is the absence of certain conversations. The conversation about the article that wasn't quite right. The conversation about the photograph that was taken out of context. The conversation about the older association that has nothing to do with the present moment. Each, individually, is small. Together, they are a quiet presence in a life that is otherwise busy enough.

These conversations are tiresome in part because they require the principal to revisit a version of themselves they no longer recognise as current. The version that wrote the piece, attended the event, said the sentence, held the role. To explain why that version is not the present version is, in itself, work. The work is rarely interesting and is almost never enjoyable.

It is also work that is rarely conclusive. The conversation explains the misunderstanding to the person in front of one; the public picture remains unchanged. The next person who reads the same material will require the same conversation, in identical terms. There is no settling.

A managed public picture removes the need for the conversation by altering what arrives in advance. The piece that would have required explanation is no longer the first thing returned by a search. The misleading photograph is contextualised, or accompanied by more accurate material that places it. The principal does not need to explain because the explanation is, in effect, already done.

This is, in the end, an unspectacular benefit. It is the absence of friction rather than the presence of advantage. But the cumulative effect, over years, of not having to explain oneself in the same ways again and again, is one of the more underrated returns on the work the desk does.