I wish I could take credit for that statement. It captures a basic premise upon which leadership is based. Yet, many of the leaders with whom I’ve come in contact don’t seem to get it.

The statement is attributed to Marion E. Wade, the founder of Service Master. Service Master was the largest contract services firm in the world. You are probably most familiar with some of their consumer-facing companies such as TruGreen, Merry Maids, or Terminix.

Service Master was founded in 1929. Although Marion’s words are over three quarters of a century old, they represent a common theme in current leadership literature: Being authentic.

I remember working with a person who was in charge of a small team. He always told me that his team was very talented and smart. He said that it was important to him that the team be involved in making core decisions. Yet, that never seemed to happen.

He made decisions with little input from the team. His team became increasingly frustrated.

I finally asked him what was going on. He said that because the team was relatively new, he needed to make sure they built credibility with their customers. Therefore, he needed to manage things a bit more tightly. Once that happened he would be able to be more inclusive but for now he had to manage the risk.

As you might have guessed, his decision making process never changed. He lost a lot of team members and had trouble replacing them. Ironically, it was at that point that his team started losing credibility. He was right; they were smart and produced great work. He just never fully capitalized on it.

Money, resources, risks, and time are not barriers to living your beliefs. They are the means through which you can demonstrate them.

Your people take direction from what you do much more than from what you say.

I often hear leaders passionately defend their beliefs. If things were just a little different, they say, they’d be able to truly follow their heart.

It doesn’t matter how much you want something to be true. The test is what you are willing to do to make it so. That’s the difference between believing and wishing. It’s what makes leaders unique.

If you find that your statements about your beliefs are often qualified with a “but”, or you spend a lot time explaining and defending the strength of your convictions, you might want to take a closer look at your actions.

–I’d like to thank my friend, Stan Robinson, for introducing me to this quote. To understand what Stan believes just watch him for a minute, an hour, or a day – you can’t miss it.