I had an email debate with a colleague (never smart) concerning approaches to selling change within an organization. I was pushing for something bold: the vision of a better, calmer life for people who have been battered for years.
The colleague didn't want bold. He wanted something safe. He didn't want an internal marketing message to promise something that the customers might not get. He didn't want to paint a picture that drove people to applause because we might not deliver. He made good points about overselling and under delivering.
Then I noticed his personal tagline, below his signature. It was a call to action, a call to boldness, a warning that timidity leads to meaninglessness.
In other words, his tagline reflected, not his view of the world, but the flaw he recognized in himself. Emotionally, I shooed away his objections the way I'd wave at an annoying fly.
If a quote inspires you to be something different than you think you are, print it and stick on your wall, make it your screen saver, read that author every night for a year. But never end your emails with a quote that strikes the reader as the perfect contradiction of yourself.
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