Actions speak louder (and truer) than words

"I love you unconditionally and I want nothing in return, no gifts, no goods or demonstrations of love... Just knowing that you love me too".

Wow, what a loaded sentence, given that communication is roughly 7% words, 28% intonation and 65% visual (give or take depending on the model you use). This means the bulk of what we are communicating to others is through our actions and behaviour, what they can see, and not through our words.

It's the movie Stardust and Yvaine is declaring her love to Tristan, who at that moment is a mouse. But before that tragic turn of events was on a mission to demonstrate his love to the girl he mistakenly believed he loved, Victoria.

"What I'm trying to say Tristan is that I think I love you. 

My heart feels like my chest can barely contain it, like it doesn't belong to me anymore,  it belongs to you. And if you wanted it I would want nothing in exchange, no gifts, no goods, no demonstrations of devotion. Nothing but knowing that you love me too. Just your heart in exchange for mine".

The tricky part however lies in the phrase "knowing that you love me too". That deep sense of knowing is build up over months, years and decades of consistent behaviour communicating a very simple and clear message... In this case, 'I love you!'

I'll leave it to you to translate and apply this to your marketing message, relationships and beliefs in sustainability and change.

It's not important for now to know what that behaviour may look like--you can't consistently fake it and neither is it an automation--although there are some common patterns and themes. But it is important to contemplate that when it comes to communicating what we feel and believe (our business vision and mission), there is simply no place to hide.

If your have eyes to see and ears to hear, which although we may not consciously be aware of, we do. We've been communicating a lot longer through behaviour than we have been thinking or stringing pretty words together... Think advertising!

Victoria on the other hand desired only a trinket, a symbol of love, not love itself. Much easier to deliver on... Think what we expect from government, corporations and other people in general!