Assume The Volume is Always Up

There’s an inverse relationship between size and surrender.

I learned this from my friend Devon, a veteran of the
landscaping industry.

He tells a story about running the marketing department of a
large organization. Like many corporate behemoths, his company leadership
scrambled to stay in control of what every employee said. Every time they logged
on, checked in linked up, there was always some manager looking over their shoulder, screening tweets and monitoring status updates for potential
risks.

Which might sound smart from a liability standpoint, but it
also sounds like a lot of work, constantly turning the volume up and down like
that.

When the reality is, it’s easier to assume
the volume is always up.

To go about our days knowing that
everything matters, everybody’s watching and everything’s a performance, and
that we’re always in danger of becoming known for what we’re about to do.

That way, instead killing ourselves trying to edit every
word we publish, we simply act from a place of integrity and class, hoping that
our language will follow suit.

Peter Drucker was right.

Trust is always cheaper than control.