Make Promises You Can Keep If people can't take you at your word, you've got serious problems. Here are 4 simple ways to straighten up and fly right.

Politicians are famous for asking us to trust them; as they liketo say, "My word is my bond." And, of course, manybusinesspeople just love to seal a deal with a handshake. Yet, asone infamous American president once said, "it depends on themeaning of the word 'is.' "

If we in business are to be taken at our word, everyone has tobe on the same page as to what our words actually mean. So it'scritical that there be no ambiguity in what we say. I guess this iswhere the lawyers enter the picture. They are great at creatingdocuments that close the door on ambiguity. The only problem is, wemere mortals don't seem to understand the fine print. And so,it's back to giving your word and exchanging handshakes.

When you give your word, you must mean it. And you must notleave yourself a fistful of ways to break your word. Or, when themoment of truth comes, to have the excuse, "they should haveseen it coming." Let me provide an example. I once worked fora company that was on the verge of bankruptcy 400 days a year. Oneday the owner apparently had had enough and called a meeting of hertop assistants (there were three of us--it was a small company).She explained the dire straits of the company and said that each ofus would be getting a 20 percent pay cut if things didn'tdramatically improve in 90 days. But we'd all be saved frompoverty if the company started to make a profit immediately.

Now, what she should have told us was that because of thesituation we would absolutely be taking a 20 percent pay cut in 90days and that now would be a good time to start looking for newjobs. You see, her word wasn't her bond. She left herself anawful lot of leeway to tell us 90 days hence that things were stillmiserable and she just hated to implement the pay cuts but she hadno choice. By giving us an out that was not under our control, sheknew from day one what the endgame would be.

You see, in a small company, a lot of managers are leaders ofpeople but aren't given any budget authority. For those 90days, she continued her profligate spending, and we were helplessto do anything about it. Her other two top assistants quit about amonth into the 90 days. I stayed on for a couple of additionalmonths hoping to learn something about business turnarounds. Theonly thing I learned was how painful it can be to be misled and tosee the doors of a company close--a company that actually made aquality product.

I still believe that company could have survived and prospered.But the owner chose to give us her word and then did everything tosabotage the turnaround.

So if you long for simpler times when a person's word washis or her bond, follow these simple rules:

1. Make promises/contracts you intend to keep.
2. Believe in the result.
3. Don't leave wiggle room.
4. Honor your word without exception.

Follow those four simple rules, and people will call you aperson of your word, the greatest compliment an entrepreneur canever receive.

Rod Walsh and Dan Carrison are the founding partners ofSemper Fi Consulting in Sherman Oaks, California, and the authorsof Semper Fi: Business Leadership the Marine Corps Way.