If It Floats It Stinks

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, depending on when and where you are.  Thank you for listening to episode 10 of The Blue Collar Executive podcast.  I am your host Lewis Taulbee, Jr.  Dad always said a man is only as good as his word.  That is exactly right.  It doesn't matter how much worldly riches you have.  If you don't keep your word, you have no word.  If I say, I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it.  I'm going to do this podcast so let's go.  People say, my word is my bond or my word is all I have.  Well, there's actually a lot of truth in that.  Our word is important.  In fact, it's so important that John started his gospel by saying in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.  In him we have life and life was the light of man.  So to clarify, when we say word, we're talking about our love, integrity, and character.  Who we are at the core.  That's who God is and who he created us to be.  That's where the second part of John's opening statement comes in about our life being the light that comprehends darkness.  Just like when we flip on a light switch and the darkness immediately vanishes, being someone who keeps their promises and commitments, always doing what they say they're going to do, keeps the light on not only for themselves, but for everyone around them.  However, if you're dishonest, deceitful, or have bad motives, your light's going to burn out sooner or later.  I promise you that when I started preparing for this episode about character, the first thing I did was look up where the word character is derived from.  It comes from a Greek word meaning chiseled, cut, or engraved.  Then a couple of days ago, I was running on the treadmill watching Looney Tunes.  Yes, I still watch old cartoons.  I find the thoughtless laughter to be a great escape from all the craziness in the world sometimes.  I highly recommend it.  Anyway, it hit me that this explains why Bugs Bunny is a character.   Cartoon characters are chiseled out by their creator.  What they do and what they say is exactly what the creator writes for them, never changing.  We know their true colors, good or bad and while they may be fictitious, they're not fake.  What you see is exactly what they are.  That's the perfect definition of character.  Our character is the real us who our creator made us to be.  He carved us out and wrote a script for us.  However, like I say in every episode, he left it up to us to stay true to our character, or we can pretend to be something else.  Character is who we are.  Period.  Reputation is who we pretend to be.  Character often gets confused with charisma.  We're sometimes drawn to people with great charisma, but then we get let down when their true light shines or burns out.  On the other hand, we sometimes overlook good character because it's not always obvious on the surface.  I've hired many people over the years and I learned a long time ago to look for character first.  Experience and skills are important, but they're second behind character.  If I'm interviewing someone and they don't pass the character test, I thank them for their time and move on.  I don't care how strong their experience and skills are.  Remember character is who we truly are not who we pretend to be to get a job.  I have a pretty good character read, but again it's not always obvious.  Let's picture a man in overalls, working hard in a field with his crops.  Now picture a man driving an expensive sports car, wearing a sharp suit, expensive watch, let's put some dark sunglasses on him.  Now you have to take one of them at their word.  Which man would you trust?  I think most of us would answer the farmer because the farmer is humble, hardworking, and likely a man of his word because a farmer lives on credit most of the summer until his fall harvest comes in.  The sharp dressed guy may be a man of high integrity, but there are a couple things that gives us reservation about him.  One, he doesn't appear humble based on his car and clothes.  Two, it's all too rare to get to a place of wealth without being greedy or dishonest at some point along your path.  We automatically associate his wealth with greed and dishonesty.  That's not fair, but it's a sad reality.  This is nothing new.  It's been the same for thousands of years.  It's why Jesus said it is harder for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.  Now he went on to explain to his disciples that it is possible and anything's possible with God.  He was making a point that the more success and money we gain, the harder it is to stay humble and honest.  I'm not saying that man in the suit has any less character than that farmer.  In fact, he may even be more credible.  I'm just trying to make a point that our morals and ethics are increasingly challenged as we progress in business.  There's some very honorable men and women that have great organizations, but unfortunately they are the minority in the world.  We have far too many corporations that were built and are operated compromising ethics for the greed of money.  However, as I said earlier, I don't care how powerful or wealthy they appear on the surface their light bulb will burn out at some point.  As we grow our success and strive to achieve more for ourselves and our families, we need to always ensure to be true to our word.  Let our light shine bright for others and always follow through on what we say we're going to do.  It is a narrower path, but in the end, it'll get us to a better destination.  When I was a young man, I was asked to run for mayor of a small town.  The more I thought about it, the more I was intrigued with the idea of politics.  When I told dad I was considering it, he strongly opposed the idea.  He said politicians are liars and thieves.  Knowing that was going to be his response I thought I came prepared with all answers.  I said, that's exactly why I want to do it Dad.  The world needs more good, honest people in government to overcome the dishonest.  I could tell he was already done with the conversation.  As he walked away, I heard him mumble if it floats, it stinks.  Just like all dad's advice, that was clear as mud.  I ultimately didn't pursue politics, but I did study it a little more and dad's comments made sense.  What I found was that to win any office that is selected by voters, charisma will get you much farther than character.  The voters have to like you to vote for you so you have to make promises to them whether you can keep them or not.  You always have to say what they want to hear even if that's not the truth.  Even a politician that tries to do their best, to be honest and follow through on their word, in the end they're only going to give you back what they steal from you in the first place.  It's a no-win situation for an honest person.  To dad's point, it's all on the surface.  There's no depth to politicians in anything they say or promise.  Just like on my pond, if it's floating, it stinks and isn't worth anything.  Charisma is all surface.  It’s your reputation, what people see you for.  It's good to be well-liked but if your character differs from your charisma, then you're fake.  Let's look at perhaps the most charismatic person in history.  Alexander the Great.  People loved him.  He had a huge following.  He had an army of hundreds of thousands.  He rode around in a solid gold chariot that was pulled by the strongest horses of the land.  He lived in this giant empire.  Let's compare him to someone who had the highest character in history.  Jesus came along 300 years after Alexander died.  Jesus only had 12 disciples.  He didn't even have a tent to live in and I don't even think he ever owned a horse.  Yet today most don't even know who Alex is, but billions still follow Jesus.  Alexander's charismatic light went out when he died but Jesus’ character lives forever.  Winston Churchill was a man of great character and an incredible leader, but he struggled a lot in politics.  In one of his quotes, he says, I no longer listen to what people say.  I just watch what they do.  Behavior never lies.  Character is who we are when no one's looking.  Our reputation is who we are perceived to be.  Two years ago I was sitting in a New York City restaurant discussing a business venture with a well-connected real estate guy.  During that conversation he must have said at least 10 times I have a reputation to protect.  Now this had the potential of being a very prosperous venture.  When he called me the next morning to continue our conversation, I told him that I had decided not to move forward.  I said if you are that worried about your reputation, I don't trust you because it tells me that you're not being honest with who you really are.  I have to laugh when I hear someone boasting about their reputation.  Saying things like honesty is my best policy.  I want to say then what is your second, third, and fourth policy?  For a person with good character honesty should be your only policy.  With reputation we are letting the world define who we are.  With character we show the world who we are and we don't worry about our reputation.  Some may like us and some may not.  That's okay.  If I stay true to who I am, in the end it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.  They didn't make us and they can't break us.  If you're with a company that has no ethics and you have to check your morals every day at the door when you go in, find a way to get out.  I don't care what they pay you it's not worth it.  Look, I've been there and it ate me alive.  It wasn't the stress of the job, it was the stress of going against my grain.  Every day that I walked into that job, they paid me and they paid me very well but I knew in my heart that I should leave.  I stayed because I felt like I owed it to my family to provide the best for them.  In the end, the job was pulled from me and it was like a cloud lifted instantly.  You would think I'd have been devastated by losing my job, but I tell you, it was an amazing feeling of relief.  God has a way of making things happen whether we listen to our hearts or not.  To this day, I am so thankful he removed me from that situation.  Now I value the time that I was there because it taught me a great lesson.  I will never do business with somebody that doesn't have great character and I will never work for another company that has no morals or ethics.  As I said earlier, that's not always on the surface.  We have to look beyond the charisma and reputation to see the true character.  One of my favorite Bible stories was when God sent Samuel to Jesse’s house to appoint the new King.  Jesse's first son walked out and he was a big strapping, strong, handsome young man.  Samuel said oh yeah God I see it.  He's a good one.  God said, nope that's not him.  Then the Lord said to Samuel, do not look at the outward appearance of his height or statute because I've rejected him for God sees not as man sees for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.  So then Jesse brought out another son and then another son but after he had paraded seven sons out God still told Samuel they are not the anointed one.  Samuel asked Jesse do you have another son?  Jesse said yes my youngest but he's just a kid.  He's out in the field right now with the sheep.  When this kid walked in probably dirty and sweaty from the field God said that's him.  That's King David.  So as dad said in the end, our word really is all we have.  While I know the path of success is much narrower when we stay true to our character, I also know that it will lead us to a greater destination.  Go out and be great at whatever it is you do.  We all need to work and strive to achieve our best life to make the world a better place.  I hope you can afford sports cars and nice suits.  I hope you live in mansions.   Always remember if you have to check your morals for a penny of it, it's all worthless.  Reputation is what people think of you.  Character is who you are when no one is looking.  That concludes another episode of The Blue Collar Executive podcast.  I hope you found some value in it or at the very least found it entertaining.  I wish you all nothing but great success.  Thank you so much for listening.