The Influence of Character

Weekends often find me roaming the large aisles of the local mega-store.  I search and populate my giant cart with food for the week, along with other items needed to provide for my family (soap, house cleaning bottles, large amounts of water bottles).  I often linger near the technology sections where dozens of televisions are on display and I dream of watching the "big game" on those amazing TV's.  Reality sets back in and I check out with my normal items and head out of the store.  Recently I was amazed at the amount of television sets being returned.  It's as if there was a fluke epidemic of broken TV sets in my town.  It then dawned on my that the Super Bowl had just aired during the past week.  This piqued my interest and so I slowed to a standstill and listened to the reasons that people were returning their high end, high definition TV's.  I was, sadly, not surprised to hear people claim that the TV's didn't fit in their room (as if they didn't know that the 80" was too large for their small apartment before they purchased).  Other claimed damage to the TV.  One gentlemen simply said, in an honest tone... I used it to watch the big game and can't really afford it... (I am paraphrasing).  His response; honest in word, reminded me of a quote I heard many years ago.

"Character is the ability to follow through on a decision after the emotion of making the decision has passed."  -Marion D Hanks

Who isn't excited about a new car? How about the new TV set? What about weightier decisions like buying a new home or making the decision to diet or quit smoking?  Or weightier yet, getting married?  All of these commitments bring with them differing amounts of emotion at the onset that are quickly muted by the reality of our commitment.  Let's take dieting as our example.  Who of us hasn't made the January 1st commitment to lose weight or exercise more?  Many of us have even gone as far as to purchase gym memberships as part of our new commitment.  Perhaps we've even purchased expensive diet plans to boot.  Now, how many of us last on this commitment to the end of January?  Heck, who of us lasts until January 5th?

How does this same quote apply to us in business?  My brother said to me while we were discussing business, "DuVall, There is no shortage of quitters in this world. We are in desperate need of finishers."  Finishers are those with high character, those who aren't driven by emotion but by commitment and resolve. 

So, Do You Have Character?  Here is a self-assessment:

• Do you finish what you start - even when no one is measuring your results?
• Do you do the hard things to ensure your deliver on your commitments
• Do those around you have confidence (through experience) that you will do what you say, even when it's hard, even when the criteria (environment) changes?

To help frame these questions, consider the following story.  My wife and I have some dear friends who purchased a home prior to the recent economic crisis.  Their home was devalued by hundreds of thousands of dollars and they were left "holding the bag".  They worked with their lender to lower the interest rate, but they have NEVER missed a payment.  You see, they agreed to pay a debt (even though the environment changed) while others around them lacked character and simply abandoned their debt (even though they could have paid).  These people, in my mind, pass the character test.  Do you?

___________________________________________________

DuVall J Laws is the Director of Information Technology at Partners In Leadership. DuVall has managed in the Insurance, Banking, Healthcare and Leadership Training Industries.  DuVall holds a B.S. in Information Systems from Utah Valley University and an M.B.A from the University of Redlands.