Are You Who You Say You Are?

In order for people to trust you and me, we have to be who we say we are. The totality of our lives need to match our actions and promises. And when we stumble and fall, we quickly ask forgiveness and demonstrate that we can get back on track again.

Three things converged this week to prompt me to write this article:

1. A request to design a survey to help a leadership team determine whether or not they are living up to who they say they are. (The fact that they care enough to initiate that kind of activity is probably an indication of what the overall results will be).

2. Participation in Carnival of HR 38: CSR & Social Justice hosted by Natalie Cooper at Changeboard.

3. An email alert from Dr. Peter Vajda at SpiritHeart  regarding the recent G8 summit in Japan which focused on famine and an urging by its leaders to "stop wasting food."

The G8 leaders are shown in the photo below at the summit.

You can read the entire Daily Mail Online article for a more complete commentary on the scenario. Also, Peter has done a very thoughtful piece in this month's free SpiritHeart newsletter. You may be quite surprised at how he approaches the situation.

"What on earth were they thinking?"

In a world begging for leadership, this is at best a botched opportunity to gain help for those souls who cry out for a morsel of food each day.

I don't begrudge anyone a decent meal after a full day of work. But don't we all question the actual commitment and intentions of people who do the opposite of what they ask of others--and, on a grand scale.

Every day we're faced with decisions that will either deepen and affirm our character in the eyes of others; or, paint us as a caricature of our selves.

Character or Caricature?

There's an easy-to-remember reminder to help guide our decisions today.

Comments

[Eric Boehme]

Steve,

Great post! The picture speaks a thousand words. Leadership is so much more accountable when it comes to being authentic. There are those who talk the talk and those who walk the walk.

[Steve Roesler]

Hi, Eric,

Being in the D.C. area, I would guess you are exposed to even more examples of incongruency than the average person.

Since we both feel strongly about issues of character, I've been wondering about this:

For those whose lives are not congruent with their words, we live in a "high exposure" world. It's nearly impossible not to be seen, photographed, recorded, or videotaped. Examples abound daily.

So one would think that "smart" people would at least fake their congruency, if you will, for the sake of good PR. But no, they don't.

A law enforcement agency client shared that criminals simply believe that when they commit a crime, they will somehow be in the percentage that is not caught.

Perhaps it's that same smug mindset that allows public people to believe their incongruent actions will never be discovered in private?

Film at 11. . . :-)