Take a good look at the last several promises you made or were made to you. Did you or they keep them? The answer is a clear indication of whether you're a person or they are a person of their word.
Everyday actions also give clues to how good you are at honoring commitments, even to yourself. Do you stay on budgets or diets you set? Do you keep appointments and show up on time? Your peers are your best judges, so ask them how reliable you are, suggests Randy Cohen, the Ethicist columnist for The New York Times Magazine. "If 10 people say the same thing about a friend, it's amazing how often it turns out to be true," he says.
In business and personal life we operate and plan according to our word and that of others. There is a difference between simply forgetting to return a call or email and not ever intending to respond. Marketers push campaigns whose words are used to attract us. Companies hire us and agree in words on terms. The virtual world is filled with words, and relationships are established on words. Words not fulfilled can ruin a company's image and a person's character.
How many times have these happened to you?
- Someone commits to get back to you on or by a certain date only to never respond at all
- A Company promises to make a decision, fix a problem or actually enters into an agreement only to never follow through
- A Group of people agree on a mission yet no one executes the task to accomplish the mission
- Someone commits to a task and deadline only to ignore the commitment
The list of examples could go on and on but we are sure by now that you get the point.
The virtual world makes everything and everyone's word transparent. Be careful what you promise or start by not promising so much to begin with. It shouldn't be abnormal to find people or companies who say what they do and do what they say but unfortunately it is. Today, more than ever, our word shapes and creates our world. It is a small world and our word spreads fast.What say you?