“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”
– Abraham Lincoln
Sometimes the old cartoons – The Pink Panther comes to mind – had great fun with a shadow that didn’t “behave.”
It was funny in the cartoons.
Not so much in business or in life.
When we see authenticity – in each other, in clients, in friends, spouses, kids, etc – let’s call it out. Let’s reward it with compliments and bathe it in positive feedback. Let’s thank people for being real, and let’s reciprocate by being real.
In order to make a difference, let’s be the trees. And, let’s choose to stand among the best of our kind in the forest in which we’re planted.
Let’s be the real thing.
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