Who are you?  What do you do?  What do you say?

These are the 3 aspects to every leader: Who you are.  What you do.  What you say.  Great leaders demonstrate integrity with all three.  Who they are is in alignment with what they do and say.  What they do is in alignment with who they are and what they say.  And what they say is in alignment with who they are and what they do.

A lack of integrity is saying one thing and doing another.  In addition, it’s knowing who you are and what you believe, but saying and/or doing something incongruent with your values.

I was working with a leader this week who is the real deal.  He has built an amazing company.  He employs hundreds of people whom he cares for deeply.  He is clear on what he believes and the values he wants to ensure his people experience through his leadership and, in turn, demonstrate in and through their work.

His actions are aligned with his values and beliefs.  He is a man of high integrity.  What he does demonstrates the depth of character he has.  His being and doing are strongly congruent.  If you want to learn what kind of man he is, watch what he does.

He’s not a real talker though.  You could say he is one of those “strong silent types”.  However, he clearly communicates with enough clarity, conviction and compassion to motivate his people to accomplish extraordinary things.  His words are few, but they are powerful and compelling.

We recently went through an exercise where we were putting language to his convictions.  He simply shared what he believed with me about certain aspects of his business and his leadership.  I listened intently, wordsmithed what I heard, and tried to put succinct language to who he is.

He wanted to learn how to more powerfully, profoundly and compellingly communicate what he believes.  He wanted to learn how best to “say” what he wants to say.

You may have heard of the 3 C’s of leadership: Character, Content, and Charisma.  There really is an order to these.  The foundation for all that we do and say needs to be our character.  It’s the true essence of who we are.  Everything we do is built upon our character, or lack thereof.

Our content is what we do that comes out of what we believe and who we are.  Is there depth of content in our leadership?  Are we intentional in what we do based upon key values and convictions rooted in who we are?

Charisma is really what we say.  It’s how we can communicate in a compelling fashion with others.  It’s our WOO – our ability to Win Others Over.  It’s our likeability – how people are drawn to us.

Great leaders have a depth of character their content is built upon, and their charisma then enables them to engage others in the good work and message they live.  It’s being, then doing, then saying.  There is a healthy and correct order to this.

Sadly though, what we often see now-a-days are upside down leaders.  Charisma is their strong suit, seconded by minimal content and built upon the precarious foundation of weak character.  We end up with a lack of integrity and substance – a world of lies woven to win weak minds.  These leaders are all talk with little or no action and are ultimately looking for how they can benefit and not those they are leading.

Talk is cheap.  Who are you and what do you do?  That’s where the gold is found.

My client is an example of the kind of leaders we need more of: men and women who know who they are.  They know what they believe and why they believe it.  They have depth of character.  Their actions then clearly demonstrate who they are.  Their values and beliefs are clearly heard and seen through what they do.

And then their words, whether many or few, eloquent or awkward, envision, enlist and engage others in the worthy work they themselves are wholeheartedly engaged in accomplishing.

1. Be. 2. Do.  3. Say – three well-ordered aspects of great leaders.