Words on the wall

Do we believe our own PR.

For many years I have studied the words companies display on their walls.

These are in the form of beautifully presented slogans, quotes or inspirational messages.

Recently I visited two government offices and to my surprise one had "words on the wall" and the other released a new strategy where they list "their words" no doubt soon to appear on a wall near you.

Engage and Challenge were two of the words, neither of which this department appear to vaguely understand.

The other Ministry revealed the first part of their transformation strategy to be - People, Collaboration, Connectivity and Trust but these concepts are 100% foreign to how they operate that ministry.

I do not mention these to be critical, it is just that they are two occasions last month, where I was reminded that words on the wall are rarely internal to the organisation that puts them there.

We are all smart enough to tell when a company "lives" to a standard they believe in, only management is stupid enough to put words that are not true on the walls.

Maybe we should all have a look at the words on our walls and consider that our clients do not necessarily see our business in that way.

Read the article below as an example of the Dager presented by "words on the wall".

What Are the Real Lessons of the Wells Fargo Case?

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