May 19, 2008
Growing Your Business: Walk The Walk
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It's always shocking to me when I run across people who don't "walk the walk" and "talk the talk" that they promote to others. I regularly come across people who say one thing but do another, or even worse, do nothing. I likewise try to apply this rule to myself — sometime more successfully than others.
Recently, I was driving on the freeway next to a car with a bumper sticker that said, "My daddy fixes car bumpers. Call this number so he can fix yours." The irony is that this car had a bashed in bumper worse than any that you could imagine.
My daughter recently told me that there is a car at her high school that is new, but the car has a bashed in front end. The irony here is that her father and her uncle are both driving instructors at the local driving school.
I regularly talk to professional financial advisors who have accountants who don't bother to implement the tax strategies that they regularly sell to others. I've heard of attorneys who work in the estate area who don't have an adequate plan in place for themselves. I also regularly run into realtors who sell not only homes but investment properties, and the irony is that very frequently these realtors do not own any investment property of their own.
This scenario is frequently referred to as the "shoemaker's kids who run around barefoot." How true this is.
The critical lesson here is that it's imperative that you do for yourself what you tell others to do. Especially if you're a professional person who gets paid for your advice, it's important to walk the walk that you put out there for others to follow. If you give advice, the best way to sell others on the strategies that you put into the marketplace is to implement those strategies for yourself.
So, as you are working hard every day to build your company, or as you're building your career, make sure that every day you "walk the walk" that you promote and that you "talk the talk" that you put into the marketplace.
By the way, if you have any feedback for me about how I "walk the walk" and "talk the talk" that I put into the marketplace, then by all means, send me an email so that I can continue with my own self improvement. Thanks!
About Joel G. Block
Well known in the business community, Joel Block is a best selling author, speaker, and business strategist. Frequently a principal in his transactions, Joel has raised tens of millions of equity dollars for his ventures, which have included real estate syndications and privately held businesses.
Joel’s career is highlighted by the launch of a financial publishing company which he grew nationwide and later sold to the Los Angeles Times. More recently, Joel works with scientists, engineers, technologists and others to help them optimize their entrepreneurial opportunities. Would you like to get a private phone consultation with Joel? Visit www.joelblock.com/capital for details.
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Filed under Business Growth, Growth Minute, Guru Marketing by Joel Block
Comments on Growing Your Business: Walk The Walk »
Dear Joel
I think you are doing a great job walking your own talk, as far as I can tell. My comment intends to expand what you are suggesting for business building and people doing their jobs into the field of leadership. The two main areas I have seen to mimic what you are describing are communication and treatment of those around the leader and down the foodchain. Coming up with new strategies or cost cutting methods, and telling every executive and manager in the organziation to communicate them to the workforce, only resonates when the leaders do it too, and as often as possible. They need to be the role model and explain why the changes and directions the organziation is supposed to move towards are necessary and helpful. For the interaction with others, it is one thing to be authoritative and directive as a leadership style. To me it is frequently surprising that the same people using this style of leadership complain when they are treated in this way by their own boss. There is this fitting German saying my grandpa used to tell me when I didn't walk the talk or said something stupid: "What you holler into the forest is going to be the echo that is coming back to you." I learned that this doesn't only apply to what one says but also to what one does - or to stay with your phrase: how one walks the talk.
Thanks for making this important point clear for all of us so we can live a more successful life