Do you have a motto?

 

Do you have a motto? Words to live by?

If not and you were to write a motto, what would it say?

How we speak and share what we do informs our brand. How others perceive it is a reflection of how well we are connecting to our customers while living our brand.

This goes for organizations and individuals. The more people in your organization, the more opportunities you have to embrace diversity while working to get everyone to see themselves as part of the vision, work to execute the mission, and represent the brand. A motto can serve as a mnemonic device to help remind how to do just that.

As for the individual, the responsibility to uphold their motto is on them. How they explore the meaning and behave shows their dedication to themselves and their life’s work or passion.  

When I designed and built Tech Host Academy, I established and followed values that helped me make decisions along the way.



Creating value statements helps me and the tech hosts I train to operationalize the values for themselves and the clients they choose to support. 

I also created 3 tenets to help structure and build the business which also serves as our motto:

“Lead with Service.
Support with Grace.
Partner with Integrity.”

Tech hosts tend to be service-minded people. We are helpers and like to be of service to a group and their purpose. This is commonly part of our Why. Our How is by supporting with grace. We use the swan as our metaphor and often say “embrace our inner swan” in order to remind ourselves the importance of our Presence while dealing with technical issues in real time. And we do all of this work by identifying our ideal clients so that we may partner with integrity.

These crafted words didn’t just fall out of the sky. Nor were they copied and pasted from other organizations with multi-million dollar budgets dedicated to employer branding, marketing and ad spend.

Although, in my research, I did find a few mottos that were tempting:

“Build for the long-term. Thrive on change. Be a constant learner.” —Shopify

“Work Hard. Have Fun. Make History.” —Amazon

“Act always as if the future of the Universe depended on what you did, while laughing at yourself for thinking that whatever you do makes any difference.” —Padlet


What I like about these, and the motto at THA is that they:

  • Define trajectory
  • Show humility
  • Inspire


They also define both the doing and being—both important human aspects. What we say and do is the outward expression of who we are. But what truly defines us is how we feel and think about ourselves.

If you have a motto, I encourage you to keep it alive by leaning into it and finding new ways to express it through your words and actions.

And if you are looking to write your motto, here are a few tips:

Ask yourself:

  • Where do I want to go? What’s my goal or target?
  • How do I want to get there? What words describe my best attributes?
  • Why is this important to me? What keeps me motivated?


When writing a motto, explore the true meanings of words and notice how you react to words. How do they resonate with you? What comes up for you when your write and speak them aloud?

Keep the motto short and memorable. Maybe play with alliteration or rhythm to make it catchy without losing its meaning.

Find ways to share and live into your motto.

If we can be impeccable with our words in our thinking and while expressing ourselves, our intention and behaviors are in alignment.

And finally, remember to be gentle with yourself. A motto is an ideal, something to strive for. The best way we can live out our motto is to practice and fail, so that we may learn and get better at it.

Want a behind-the-scenes pass to learn what it takes to be a professional tech host?

Check out the free training webinar:

How to Create Thriving Online Environments
without needing to Be a Tech Geek

No offense tech geeks! We love you!

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