MASQUERADING AS 

SOMEONE YOU’RE NOT?

Think about it.  Are you representing your SELF in some way that’s not truly you?  Is it to make a sale? Get a date? Be accepted? Make points? Save yourself from losing face? Is it what you like to see other people do? No? So why pull the covers over the real you? Do you think others can’t see through the façade? Can’t you tell when someone else is faking it?

Authenticity isn’t a make-believe attribute that can be manipulated to suit the occasion. By its very definition, it means being genuine all the time. Authenticity, in other words, cannot exist on a parttime basis, or be in effect one minute and not the next. You either are who you represent yourself to be or you aren’t.

Yeah, some say, but there are always exceptions to everything. Not true! You either believe in God or you don’t. You either love someone or you don’t. You are either real or you’re not. There are no two ways about it. You can’t use Bcc emails to have someone else (or others) know your “secret ” communications and then pretend you are sending someone a private message.

Integrity is often defined as doing the right thing even when no one is looking.

As stampeding technology sweeps us all into lower levels of sociability — actually redefines sociability to be global instead of personal– we can often find ourselves distancing ourselves from others who are physically and emotionally close, in favor of socializing with total strangers who may seem less threatening and who may be more conveniently available to be in contact.

Is this behavior in our best interests career-wise? Possibly. In terms of personal growth and development as a human being who wants to make a difference in the world? Not likely. Performance track-record and familiarity breed trust. People accept and buy from one another (including health services, by the way) because of trust more than any other factor, including price!

How do we take the first step toward becoming more authentic? By recognizing that it is a choice, and then by choosing to live more honorably, and finally by setting up support systems to help ensure continuation of that practice. Is that difficult? If you choose to make it difficult, yes. But, YES,  you can choose to make it easy. Behavior is a choice.

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Hal@BusinessWorks.US  931.854.0474

SPIT IT OUT,

ON PAPER!

Literally?  Well, not unless it’s a tissue, or maybe a paper towel or napkin.  Figuratively, then?  Hey, you may be bright enough to stay employed after all.  Are you being a wise-guy?  Of course, this is a blog, isn’t it?  So what’s your point? 

     Unless you’re in a high-stress, time-crunch job location like the ER, the battlefield, the deck of an deep sea fishing trawler, an air-traffic control tower, or the floor of the stock exchange, anything that’s important enough for you to say is important enough for you to say in writing. 

[P.S. If you’re a tree-hugger worried about your green reputation going down the tubes because you use too much paper, stop reading here and have a nice day!] 

     Once you get your basic thoughts down, edit them carefully (sleep on them if possible), then deliver them in writing (or printout), on paper (or occasionally, online via email)! 

     Now, wait a minute, I’m just a landscaper; the only paper I handle’s a time sheet, and my brother says his company makes all decisions by email! Ah, all the more reason to carry a pen and pocket pad.  How many times a day are you interrupted?  How much of where you were, do you remember after a series of interruptions?

     Every minute that you spend taking notes on the boss’s instructions and putting your ideas down on paper is an investment in your self-success, and the success of your business.

     You simply won’t believe this until you do it consistently for 60-90 days.  But that time period will make a believer of you. 

     As for your brother’s email-crazed company, and my note earlier that occasionally online communications work, is not a condemnation of email.  It is a warning flag that when you email important ideas, you are suggesting they are not so important because you’ve presented your thoughts in the mad rush, snap decision making “delete/save/file/reply” environment that emails breed. 

     Even when an important communication is carefully constructed and edited, it can fail because it was zipped off without enough attention to proper subject line wording, or careful thought given to the who’s who of Cc’s and Bcc’s, or just because the use of email can give the impression that the contents are not well thought out and have been shot from the hip. 

     Sometimes being more personal is better.  I hand deliver proposals to clients when possible because I can be there to see their faces and judge responses they may not express in an email reply or even a telephone discussion.  

     You can read and hear words in a response, but when you can’t see the facial expressions, the posture and the attitudes involved, you’ve only got half the answer.  How confident would you be of making a sale the customer agrees to while hand signaling or winking derisively to a co-worker as you’re babbling away to them on their speakerphone.  And emails are even more distant.

     Whether you’re a contractor making a mental “punchlist,” a law enforcement officer reconstructing an accident scene, an engineer struggling with an architect‘s lack of reality, an administrative or salesperson working with other’s deadlines and expectations, or a physician explaining a procedure to a patient, put it in writing! 

     By writing out what you observe, hear, think or propose, or by drawing a diagram to explain yourself you are taking giant steps toward improved communications.  Improved communications win job promotions, bonuses, customers, comeraderie, industry and professional attention, and management (and, yes, even family) support.  halalpiar

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