# Interpretation Of A Ralph Emerson Quote



## Taknovrthewrld

*This is an explanation of a Ralph Emerson quote through the eyes of a small business owner/manager. My class praised me on the writing, so I figured I'd show it on WF.*

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “What you do speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you say.” In a much more ambiguous way, Emerson was saying that actions speak louder than words. Your words will hold no weight if your own behaviors do not correspond with what you say. This is the boon of all hypocrites and the reason The Boy Who Cried Wolf was eventually ignored by the villagers.

This truism can be a powerful managerial tool when applied to communications in a small firm. Most employees will learn at least partially by example. In a restaurant the kitchen managers will always tell you to wash your hands or wear your cutting glove or turn off your cell phone, but if they are breaking those same rules employees won’t have any problem breaking them too.

Even good employees can learn a bad habit from a manager who says one thing but does another, and this can be considered the opposite of employee training. “Do as I say, not as I do” doesn’t work, and could quite comically be considered the hypocritical role models classic punch-line.

This is all related to integrity, the value from the beginning of our Small Business Management book. The book says integrity is “an uncompromising adherence to the lofty values, beliefs, and principles than an individual claims to hold.” I interpret this as meaning “stick to your guns.” In this case, you have to stick to your word, the values and principles you’re trying to pass on, and act accordingly. In the forever awesome words of The Fixx, “Do what you say/say what you mean/one thing leads to another.”


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## bazz cargo

Hi Tak,
Pointing out the blindingly obvious eh?

Things may start there but some wise-guy will always push the envelope and some distance down the line the manager has no hope of doing his job. Give them enough rope and they will hang you with it.

Nice spag man.


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## Bloggsworth

*“What you do speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you say.”
*
This could quite equally apply to a rabble screaming and yelling outside your door, or Pro-Life campainers blowing up mothers and unborn babies to prove just how in favour they are of supporting the right of unborn children to live - It's a get-out-of-jail-free phrase, it's author can modify its meaning in the light of other's understanding...


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## Taknovrthewrld

bazz cargo said:


> Hi Tak,
> Pointing out the blindingly obvious eh?
> 
> Things may start there but some wise-guy will always push the envelope and some distance down the line the manager has no hope of doing his job. Give them enough rope and they will hang you with it.
> 
> Nice spag man.



I am unsure of what you mean by this. Are you saying employee attitudes will be a factor in how well a manager can teach by example?... What is spag?


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## Taknovrthewrld

Bloggsworth said:


> *“What you do speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you say.”
> *
> This could quite equally apply to a rabble screaming and yelling outside your door, or Pro-Life campainers blowing up mothers and unborn babies to prove just how in favour they are of supporting the right of unborn children to live - It's a get-out-of-jail-free phrase, it's author can modify its meaning in the light of other's understanding...



I figure all good writing has an ambiguous quality, or a case where the author "gets out of jail free" when it comes to the overall meaning of the piece.

But authors don't modify the meaning once it is written, they may hardly know the true meaning of their words themselves, they just know there is meaning. Once something is on paper and in front of the audience it is subject to interpretation from a million different angles. That is where the meaning is discovered. Nothing can be rabble if someone discovers meaning within it, so calling something rabble is like calling a certain genre of music bad, it's all opinion and whether or not it speaks to you.


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## Bloggsworth

Taknovrthewrld said:


> But authors don't modify the meaning once it is written, they may hardly know the true meaning of their words themselves, they just know there is meaning.



You just handed him his card...


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## Taknovrthewrld

Bloggsworth said:


> You just handed him his card...



He deserves the card. Just like Lao Tsu's poetry in the Tao Te Ching, ambiguity can be a writer's only tool to explain something beyond explaining. Emily Dickinson comes to mind. She says, "The thought beneath so slight a film is more distinctly seen. As laces just reveal the surge, or mists the Apennine."


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## bazz cargo

> I am unsure of what you mean by this. Are you saying employee attitudes  will be a factor in how well a manager can teach by example?... What is  spag?



An employee's attitude is precisely what the quote is about. Give a good example and most reasonable people will follow. Give a bad example and you end up with a dysfunctional business.

Spelling, punctuation and grammar.


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## Taknovrthewrld

bazz cargo said:


> An employee's attitude is precisely what the quote is about. Give a good example and most reasonable people will follow. Give a bad example and you end up with a dysfunctional business.
> 
> Spelling, punctuation and grammar.



Oh, wow, thank you, that is my first real compliment on WF. Thank you for the encouragement.


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## The Backward OX

bazz cargo said:


> Nice spag man.



You need to clean your specs, bazz.



Taknovrthewrld said:


> “Do as I say, not as I do” doesn’t work, and could quite comically be considered the hypocritical role models classic punch-line.



Apostrophe missing in "models".


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## bazz cargo

> Apostrophe missing in "models".


Hi Xo, my old friend and arch nemesis. You are quite correct. I am humbled and will spend an age in the darkness practising apostrophes.


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