Have we forgotten the meaning of promises?

A century ago, a promise and a handshake was as good as a legally binding agreement. Nothing was stronger than saying, “You have my word.” There was a sacred quality to one’s word that was not taken as lightly as it is today. Back then breaking a promise was no small transgression. Today, talk is cheap and a promise is not necessarily a promise. We often think ethics has to do with actions but it’s also about words.

Business is about keeping promises. “I’ll call you tomorrow” or “The project will be done by next Friday”. They are personal assurances that you will do something and it is backed up by your word and trustworthiness. A promise is only as credible as the person giving it.

On a busy workday, you might make dozens of promises, from the trivial to the critical. In the hustle and bustle of a jam-packed day, some promises are kept and others are let go. But hold on... you don’t get off that easily. Saying you will call someone back and not doing it has an ethical dimension to it. Falsely assuring a customer that the product will be there by Thursday is wrong. Saying one thing and doing another is lying. Make no mistake, this is not an ethical way to communicate and will come back to bite you in the future.

The bottom line is that you need to have the highest regard for ethical and honest communication in the workplace. No excuses or backpedaling, but a grounded principle that what comes out of your mouth is what you really mean. There’s nothing more important to your success than to “say what you mean and mean what you say.”

If you’ve made a promise that didn’t work out, you might ask yourself: “How did I get myself into this mess and what can I do to get out of it?”

First, if you’ve made a habit of telling people what they want to hear, you need to break it. It’s not realistic and will get you in trouble. Take the issue seriously, call it lying, and resolve that you will not do it. The key to ethical communication is clarity. Whatever the reason, you need to be as clear as possible with the words that leave your lips.

When it comes to the aftermath of a failed promise, honesty works best every time it’s tried. There is a lot of power in an apology, a willingness to take responsibility, and in making things right.

— The reader is a Kenyan investor based in Dubai