Be what you say you are...

·      Some remember what you say.

·      More remember what you do.

 

My mother used to tell me that actions speak louder than words – true then, still true today. I’m not suggesting that talk is cheap, but with so many unfiltered communication channels available today, people feel emboldened to say anything, often more for getting headlines than making sense. And with no apparent restrictions on telling untruths, discourse is at an all-time low level of veracity. Even more reason to watch what people do more than what they say. I am shocked because my whole career was focused on truth and transparency – employees rarely stood for anything less, and there usually was hell to pay if our words and actions were not consistent. As it should be. It sends a bad message to anyone, especially our children, when words and actions are inconsistent. Whether at work, in schools, at home, or in public – people learn more from what you are than what you teach or preach. Hold yourself and others to a standard of speaking and acting consistently. Be what you teach and preach today.

 

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868 – 1963): American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist.