Tell the truth. Live your brand.

While there is rarely an objection to the idea that "telling the truth" is good, most of us have heard the exhortation, "Walk the walk." The exhortation is widely known because examples are quite plentiful of individuals who have difficulty practicing what is preached. And the same can be applied to business executives and politicians who fail to deliver on promises made or messages proclaimed.

In a recent article for Ad Age, David Angelo wrote to marketing executives and agencies, saying "It's time to live your brands." Angelo explains "Brands need to be ready for the spotlight -- good or bad -- by conducting business and communicating as if their reputations depend on it...Tell the truth, from the inside out."

I shared this via Twitter with the text, "Tell the truth. Live your brand." But when a follow up inquiry came from Ruth Simone of Luminare Coaching, I was compelled to give a reply with more space than 140 characters!

From a marketing perspective, it is good to be perceived as "believable" and trustworthy because consumers and/or donors are being asked to make an act of faith in making a purchase or contribution. But if we want to be believable, we have to actually believe the message that we are putting forward.

And our belief is proven in the actions of our lives, personally and corporately. Perceived discrepancies between the message and the actions of those behind the message will always undermine the effectiveness of any endeavor.

Whoever or whatever you are, as an individual or an organizational representative, be truthful. Believe your own message and back it up in order to be believable.

You want to know more. I have no objection to you knowing more.

One of the fascinating aspects of networking and socializing via internet resources like Blogger, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook is the need to assess a new follower or followee, or "friend" within a relatively brief initial scan of the available data.

Who is this guy? What is he like? Are his interests similar to mine? Is his conversational capacity up to par?

On the one hand, I believe such assessments can be helpful and sometimes accurate. On the other hand, people are just too complex to be summed up in such a small amount of space.

Am I all about sports? For professional sports, I do enjoy following the Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins, Boston Celtics, and New England Patriots.

So am I all about Boston? I love my home state of Arkansas. For college sports, I am quite squarely in the corner of the Arkansas Razorbacks. I love that I was born and raised in Arkansas, and I love that I live here now and probably always will. But yes, Boston is my adopted non-hometown hometown.

So what sort of reading do you enjoy in your free time? When I read, my interests vary. I've enjoyed both dramatic and humorous novels. I've enjoyed nonfiction that focused on religious themes, business strategy, and neuroscience.

Ordinarily, my "free time" involves being on or near a tennis court, but I also run regularly.

To browse the list of Twitter accounts I follow would be quite a lesson in variety. I don't mind folks gathering "knowledge" about me based on what I do and what interests me. If you have a particular question, it is unlikely that you would find me hesitant to answer it.