What Does “Walking the Talk” Means?

Hi meaningful leader,

It’s always awesome to see you! I hope you’re having a productive Tuesday and that your weekend was restful and energizing!

This week it’s extra special because I’m attending the International Maxwell Conference, (IMC) in Orlando, FL; which is led by Dr. John C. Maxwell and his amazing team and meeting John, who’s been one of my biggest leadership mentors for decades, in person is truly a dream come true…pinch me!

…but before I flew to the conference, I made sure this topic was ready to share with you because is truly a critical one.

You see, the way I see it is talk is cheap! I’ve known many people that are shallow speakers, they can talk a good talk, but have zero actions attached to their speech.

A general rule in life, and even more so in leadership, is that we have to be ready and able to back up our words with solid, corniced actions. As leaders, our job is to inspire our team, to become role models, to provide a clear vision; yet lots of people in leadership roles, don’t act accordingly to the message they preach and whether we realize it or not, the team will catch on and disengage.

I recently had an interesting conversation with one of my teams. They had done an amazing job at ensuring their KPIs were met, but they had relied on workarounds to avoid suffering cross-functional impact. My job was to reframe their approach without shattering their efforts. Hard conversations are called hard for a valid reason. They are far from comfortable, but are the ones we need to prioritize.

The way I was able to get their buy-in was by casting a vision they could see themselves part of. We had build a process from scratch, so growing pains are part of creating something that never existed before. Yet my goal was not only to get their buy-in, I wanted to make sure they took the vision and made it their own, made it their mission.

In my upcoming book, I dedicate a whole chapter to building, optimizing and scaling operations. After something is created, it’ll be consistently tweaked, this process is called continuous improvement. And only when a process is optimized, is when the options of scaling (sustainably that is) becomes available.

The team had build and has been optimizing, but not to the extend to support a sustainable industrialization, that why my hard conversation had to take place. My job is not to BS them, my job is to show them that there is a better way ahead, even better than the one they had fined tuned, without minimizing the amazing progress they had made.

Yet, we are only equipped to have this level of engagement with the team when we have build on solid ground and have the proof to show for it. In other words, walking the walk is what gives us the confidence, knowledge, experience, wisdom, and courage to challenge, disrupt and improve a process. Again, talk (alone) is cheap!

One of the biggest tools we can consistently use as leaders is personal growth. As leaders, we cannot afford to stop learning, our team deserve better than that. Plus, building habits around personal growth will in parallel keep sharpening our self-leadership; which is what will keep our egos in check.

You see, when we succeed at something, we can either remain humble and coachable, understanding that we had conquered part of the mountain but the summit is still ahead;, or we can think that we’ve made it and allow our ego to take control. But my friend, if one thing is for sure, no team was ever successfully built on the ego foundation.

Lead in a way that inspires. Awaken in others the will to achieve greatness. Provide a vision that allows others to reach higher. Share a clear, inclusive way forward for the future. And then walk every step necessary to make it a reality, alongside your team.

Remember that as leaders, we must slow down our pace in order to allow the team to tag along and follow. We provide the guidance and ensure not a single one of them is left behind. Meaningful leaders never climb the ladder alone!

I hope this was a valuable article for you, if it was, please share with one person, like and subscribe to the blog, as well as to my YouTube channel. It’s such an honor to write this weekly article for you, I mean it!

I’ll tell you all about the IMC next week, I still can’t believe I’m here with John Maxwell…YAY!

Have an amazing rest of your week, see you next week my friend and God bless!

Maria