About Purpose is about your purpose.
Aim: Identify and articulate your purpose.
Arm: Shape yourself around your purpose.
Act: Achieve your purpose.
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On What do You Bias Your Opinion?
Bob Ryan, About Purpose, Inc. ©2004
Listening to candidate debates can be an enlightening experience. Regardless of your political leanings, it’s helpful to hear how our national and local leaders define and solve problems, organize their thoughts and express their opinions. Recently, I heard a report of one candidate’s speech in which he made a statement that stirred my own thinking. Reportedly, he said, “I never base my public decisions on my private beliefs.” My reaction? On what do you base your decisions? Or, as I heard once, “On what do you bias your opinions?” Would you follow a leader who has no solid base for making decisions? Would you ever have any trust in his or her opinions?
There are only three ways of evaluating people’s character. One is action. How do they handle things, both now and in the past? The second is morals. What do they profess to believe? The third, and most important in my mind, is consonance. How do their actions match the professed beliefs? (A word more people are familiar with is dissonance – when actions and beliefs don’t match).
The best method I know of building people’s confidence in you, your opinions and your decisions is to demonstrate consonance. (The fastest way to lose credibility is to show dissonance). What about you? Do you demonstrate consonance, consistency, and constancy?
Here are some suggestions for becoming the kind of leader that others can trust to make, consistent decisions over time – that is, a credible leader, a leader of character.
Know yourself. Examine your own beliefs. Ask yourself what you really believe and why you believe it. Ask and answer questions about world situations, personal relationships, work interactions, etc. and see if your answers are consistent with what you say you believe.
Be forthright. Talk about your beliefs. If you want people to trust your actions, they must know on what you “bias” your opinions. Certainly I don’t mean you should talk about everything to everyone, but consider what people need to know about your beliefs in order for them to trust your judgment. At work, you will probably need to share your beliefs about honor, the work ethic, honesty, reliability, etc. At home, you will probably need to share your beliefs about love, faithfulness, respect, etc.
Challenge your every action. One clever person once said that what you really believe shows up in how you act when you think no one is looking. You can’t coast through the red light and then claim you believe in law and order. You can’t mumble about people of other races, creeds or cultures and then claim you believe all people are created equal. Aggressively challenge your words and actions and get them lined up with your beliefs.
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Really listen to others’ reactions. Pay attention to the effect of your actions on others. Ask yourself if the effect is consonant with what you believe. For example, you may believe in speaking the truth in all situations, but when you examine the effect it has in certain situations, you may realize that you are violating another closely held belief – compassion. You may have to learn how to tell the truth so that it is done in a caring way. This does not mean you violate your belief about truth to be caring. It means you have to tackle the tough job of learning how to make your actions consonant with your beliefs – all of them.
If you regularly practice these disciplines, you will experience an increase in your inner peace, while those around you experience a greater comfort level in your opinions and actions. People may not agree with you, but they will always know where you stand and trust that your actions will be consonant with what you profess.