Living The Truly Human Message

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“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Anonymous

Once upon a time, a mother came to Gandhi to advise her son to stop chewing gum. Gandhi then advised her to come after two weeks. He simply told her son to stop chewing gum when she came back. The mum who by now was perplexed asked him why he didn’t say that two weeks ago. Gandhi replied that two weeks ago he also chews gum. He had to stop first before advising the child to stop. This is living your cause.

I believe in the lean methodology where you have to test everything and validate it. Whenever I have a partner on the truly human concept, I always make sure I test whether they have become the message we are taking to the world. I ask for help to take care of my needs. You need if someone will not find a way to make sacrifices to help, the person isn’t truly human. Our humanity shows forth when others close to us are in need.

This week my co-founder in Truly Human School called to ask for my help with her finances. She then sent a voice note and in it, she was trying to explain what had happened. I stopped listening and deleted the voice note. Then called her and said, she doesn’t have to explain. We are partners and her needs are mine. I didn’t have the funds. I have a lot of needs too. But then I made sacrifices to ensure that my partner has some money to take care of her needs. I didn’t judge her. I didn’t ask questions. I didn’t advise her on how to get money or ignore her, I became part of the solution for her. I helped as every human will do. I showed her I care and that she has a partner who will always stand by her. That is what humans do.

A staff told me how her family had no food to eat at home. I should have asked her what she did with her salary, but I didn't. Instead, I withdrew my personal funds and bought groceries for the family that will take care of them for at least a week. I brought joy to the family. We have to be truly human to others. Humans care when others are in need.

When people in an organization are open about their needs, it means they feel at home with the culture of the organization. They trust the people with their pains. They are vulnerable. Barry-Wehmiller's culture is supportive of its people when they are in need. A Truly Human Culture doesn't throw people under the bus but stands with them and works out a solution. It is the foundation of a Truly Human Company.

I believe strongly the power of a concept or message is not in the message itself but in living the message. It's not enough to stand for something. We have to live it. It has to become a part of us. We must become the message or a cause we are advancing to the world. If not, it will just be a means to an end. Living the message should be the end of whatever we do.

I believe that if we believe in something it should be so much a part of our lives. We should treat people the same way we want to be treated. At 14 years of age, I decided that I was not going to preach what I don’t live and I won’t associate closely with people who don’t live the same. There is great power in living your message.

We preach a better message with our lives and not just with our lips. If we don’t practice what we preach, we are nothing more than hypocrites. People do what they see us not what we say. In his book, 21 Irrefutable Law of Leadership, John Maxwell wrote that “People do what people see.” People model what they see their leaders do and not what they hear them say.

Leading by example is the best way to communicate and pass a message. People are always watching to see what you will do. Whatever you, not what you say, is what they will copy and say. If a CEO tells his people that he cares for everyone but then discriminates in his actions towards one of the staff, he passes a message that his care is based on condition and not for everyone. The culture will reflect his action, not his words.

It is easier to tell people about the kind of culture you want to have than to actually live that culture every day and every time. The good thing about the Human-Centered Culture is about who you become not necessarily what you do in the workplace. What you do should come from who you are. Organizational culture can make people live duplicate lives: one life in the workplace and another at home.

Many of the companies that have ethics as values still have ethical problems. It’s not enough to have a set of values and expect people to live it, someone has to model it, most especially the CEO. Enron is a classic example of a company that has a set of values that has to do with ethics, integrity, and character, but then because they didn’t live these values their ship sank like the titanic.

When Bob Chapman mentored me on the concept of Truly Human Leadership, I made the decision to live the concept before I even started living it. I discovered that it's easier to make promises than to keep them. I want to be integral. I want to live as a truly human in business, with my family, with strangers, and in the community. And I also decided that anyone I am partnering with will have to show that same commitment to the message.

I just believe in the message. I don’t want to be seen as being two different people as it happened to a clergyman. The wife noticed he was more loving when he was preaching than when he is at home. So she told him that she need to move to the church and stay there with him since he is more caring and loving there. He is loving in the church to please the people in the church, but never his family.

Business owners can be caring towards their customers but never towards their employees. We take people close to us for granted and celebrate those who we need something from. If you are your message, you will certainly live the same way with anyone you are with. The Truly Human concept is about treating people with dignity, value, and respect. It's about honoring your commitment to anyone you come alongside of.

This is why I don’t believe in the value-based culture but in the purpose-based culture that focuses on who you become. We have to become the culture we want to portray to people. Because people imitate their leaders, you need to change yourself and be the culture before you try to change people to fit the culture. The culture should define who we become. We have to live the culture we want to have in our organization before we expect others to.

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