Plagiarism as a reputation-destroying mistake?

Within a piece on career no-no's, one finds the line:

While some workers make big, reputation-destroying mistakes (think plagiarism or sexual harassment), the vast majority make a series of choices that can quietly build or ruin their professional image in the workplace.

Think Joe Biden or Glenn Poshard.

Elsewhere in the piece, email comes up:

Large-audience E-mails are rarely wise for dealing with a controversial issue or for being humorous. A regular habit of insensitive, unwise digital communications can leave coworkers with a negative impression that's "almost irreversible," Allgeier says.

The piece included understatement:

Similarly, employees who interrupt their boss or embarrass their boss in a meeting will quickly chip away at their reputations. Chip away???

UPDATE

Note piece by Conley L. Smith, Punishing plagiarizers.
Does public exposure fit the sin?


http://journalism.indiana.edu/resources/ethics/naming-newsmakers/punishing-plagiarizers/

On Biden. The Biden Plagiarism Scandal