A short simple story heard while jogging with my friend Bobby Lewis decades ago influences my actions every day.
Ralph Waldo Emerson is well known for a phrase very similar to this
“What you are speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you say.” Great advice for leaders and parents.
Honesty, Ethics, Parenting
If you aren’t honest with the rest of the world, how can you hope to be honest with yourself? Honesty isn’t what you say you believe, it’s what you model, encourage, reward, and let happen every day.
Come with me for a moment to Oklahoma. One of my friends, proud father Bobby Lewis, was taking his two little boys to play miniature golf. “It’s three bucks for you,” the attendant drawled, “and three bucks for any kid who’s older than six. They get in free if they’re six or younger.”
Bobby said, “Well, Mikey’s three and Jimmy’s seven, so I owe you $6.00.” The attendant looked surprised. “Hey mister, do you like throwing your money away? You could have told me the big one was only six and saved three bucks. I wouldn’t have known the difference.”
“Yes,” Bobby said, “but the kids would have known the difference.”
Daring to take responsibility for your own life requires truthfulness and honesty in all your dealings, both with yourself and with others. As an individual or a company, what you do in private is as important as what you do in public.
This is a very simple story and 100% true. I hope you agree, one of the best ways to teach and train, motivate and inspire, persuade and influence is with a short simple story.
