Character

Hey team, all right. Monday Message, and for today’s message, I want to give you a quote from Billy Graham. As those of you don’t know who Billy Graham is, he was a worldwide evangelist. He has spoken to hundreds of thousands of people. He passed away just a few years ago, but an amazing guy. When I was a young kid, I actually got to see Billy Graham in a big giant soccer stadium type thing. He has spoken to multiple presidents, all the way up to, I believe, George W. Bush, going back to Richard Nixon and Ford. He started his ministry and stuff way back in the late ’40s or ’50s.

Here’s his quote: “When wealth is lost, nothing is lost. When health is lost, something is lost. When character is lost, all is lost.” And what that says to me is something that I say pretty often. I talk about character, and one of our core values is transparency. Monday Messages are about our core values. So, again, transparency, even at a cost. Can you tell on yourself? When character is lost, all is lost.

Your character is the one thing that you were born with that nobody can take from you. Nobody can take your character away, but you can give it away.

And once you’ve given your character away, what does that mean? Well, when you lie, when you cheat, when you steal, when you look out for me instead of others, when you are 100% focused on your gain and not caring about those around you, and when you will literally take advantage of somebody else or to protect what you think is to protect yourself, you will lie to remain in the good graces of somebody. That is a loss of character. When you will cheat and take from somebody else, that is a loss of character.

When those things happen and somebody finds out, which if you think that you’re never going to get found out, well, I got news for you. It’s hard to remain truthful in a situation when you’re lying, and it’s hard to keep everybody. You know the truth usually finds you out, and we’ve seen it happen in movies, and we’ve seen it happen in real life in Hollywood. We’ve seen it happen in politics. We’ve seen where somebody lies, and they are toppled. They rise to a high height, but their character crushes them and keeps them.

No matter how talented you are, your ego and your character, your ego will kill your character and it will bring you to a place where you are of no value to those around you.

So, character is really important. I talk about it in leadership. I talk about it in orientation. Those of you that have been hired recently, I probably, when I’m talking about transparency and telling on yourself and the importance of your character, it means so much to those around you. And a person of character will always go far. Do you sometimes get taken advantage of? I’m sure you do. I mean, people with no character will take advantage of you or try.

People of great character tend to rise to the top and rise to the surface because they can be dependable and relied upon.

And we often find that it is men and women of character that have a legacy of greatness shared about them. Again, some people can do some great things, but it is about the character of the man, the character of the woman that carries for all of history. People with negative characters sometimes are remembered in history too, but not in a positive way. So, on this beautiful Monday, remember, be valuable because nothing less will do. And God bless you. I really do appreciate you and the things that you do. Remember to go out there and be transparent even at a cost and keep your characters strong because once you give it away, it’s hard to get back. God bless you. Talk to you later.