Over my many years of being a radio broadcaster, I’ve interviewed hundreds, maybe thousand of people.
And one of the things that I’ve always found fascinating is to see high profile people when they are off mic or camera. Or away from an audience gaze. And maybe it’s a bit naughty of me, but I love to metaphorically ’sit back’ and ‘watch’ the extent to which they ‘walk their talk’. Some are spot on. Others tend to miss the mark. And sadly there are more people in the latter category than the former.
Because of my interests, most of the people I tend to interview are in the human potential, personal development, or some “New Age” field. And most of these people all talk about the importance of love, and present themselves as the milk of human kindness. Yet all too many just don’t quite understand what that is really all about. They talk about the importance of reciprocity, yet forget a sincere response. They really need to do some learning about loving and laughing.
They demonstrate the need for that learning, by their attitude to others. Their attitude to money and the way they make it. Whether they ensure that all their emails are answered, or if they even answer them themselves if need be, or appropriate, and so on.
And I know that we all lead busy lives, and the higher the profile the busier they get. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t have an assistant answer the emails and phone calls in an appropriate and timely manner. Because, I contend, the emotional intelligence of their staff is a good reflection on the emotional intelligence of the person themselves.
So are you walking your talk?
I’d love you to comment on your experiences here. But no real names please if you’re going to discuss someone who doesn’t quite make the grade.
