WHAT’S IMPORTANT IS WHAT YOU DO, NOT WHAT YOU SAY. AND THAT’S AS TRUE FOR COMPANIES AS IT IS FOR PARENTS.

If you tell your kid it’s important to wash her hands before meals but you don’t wash your own, you’re really saying it’s not important. Say “Always tell the truth” and then tell one lie, and you’re saying “Sometimes tell a lie.” Say drugs are bad, then smoke a little weed out on the fire escape and, well, guess what? It’s what you do, not what you say. And that’s as true for companies as it is for parents.

Thanks to the water-cooler effect of social networking, every company, regardless of its actual size, must deliver the same quality of service as a small business. Customers expect personal attention from everyone, whether it’s Toyota or their local bakery. Today, your company’s behavior is your marketing. Period.

Read more on Fast Company

[Image by Rolands Lakis]