SO WHO ARE WE REALLY?

"We have too many high-sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them."

Abigail Adams (1744-1818) First Lady of the United States.

Many of the words you see in this photograph are carelessly strewn throughout the mission statements of so many companies.

What do they mean?

Simply saying them, putting them in a mission statement hung on the wall, telling employees "this is who we are", doesn't come close to making it so. 

WHAT YOU WILL DO MORE THAN WHAT YOU DID DO

"Good character will be recognized as a result of many acts, and sometimes lost, the result of just one."

Unknown

There isn't one among or gone before us who hasn't done and/or said things that reflect poorly on their character.

You, me, all humans.

But more important than what we did wrong is what we do after to make the wrong right.

NOT WHAT YOU APPEAR TO BE, WHAT YOU ARE

"It is fortunate to be of high birth, but it is no less so to be of such character that people do not care to know whether you are or are not."

Jean de la Bruyère (1645-1696) French satiric moralist.

"High birth" isn't what it was when Monsieur de la Bruyère first spoke these words, however the underlying thought still applies.

More important than your reputation, education, money or anything else you can name is your character.

Without that your value to others is greatly diminished.

HOW YOU ARE PERCEIVED, FOR NOW

"Reputation is only a candle, of wavering and uncertain flame, easily blown out. It is the light by which the world looks for and finds merit."

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) American poet/critic/editor.

"Finds merit?"

Well not always in all cases; one's reputation can also be bad.

And whatever your reputation today may not be what it is tomorrow.

Work to improve it if bad, to enhance it if good.

WE'LL FIND OUT

"Circumstances do not make the man, they reveal him."

James Allen (1864-1912) British-born American essayist.

It is very difficult, often impossible, to forever hide what we really are, particularly during adversity.

Once tested our true selves become known.

EITHER WAY, YOU'RE A CHARACTER, BUT WHICH ONE?

"Talents are best nurtured in solitude. Character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world."

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet/novelist/dramatist

Those "stormy billows" occur when others are evaluating what you see as your talents. 

Sometimes you'll win, other times not and your character will show to be good or bad depending on which.