"Where Is Your Word When It Comes Time For You To Keep Your
Word?"
Coombsville Appellation,
Napa Valley,
California, USA
April 16, 2026
"Transformation shows up in my mouth."
...
"We all know that when we give our word, our word is so to speak in
our mouths (and if we are awake, then also in our ears in being
aware that we have just given our word). When one is giving one's
word, one's word exists in one's mouth, but exists there only for
the duration one is speaking. The question is where does your word
go - where does your word exist - after you have closed your
mouth? More critically, the question is where is your word when it
comes time for you to keep your word?"
...
speaking the
Leadership Course
"If you don't have an extraordinarily powerful answer to the question,
'Where is my word when it comes time for me to keep my word?', you can
forget about being a person of integrity, much less a leader and
realizing a created future. In order to realize the created future,
you will need a way to keep the word you gave regarding the created
future in existence."
Werner
posed the question ("pro-posed the question" works
just as well) "Where is your word when it comes time for you to keep
your word?". And if you've never looked at it / never asked that
question before, maybe a good place to start is with another,
earlier question (if you will) which is this: "Where is
your word when you give your word?". So you've given
your word, and now it's time to keep your word, and where is your word
now?
One answer to the latter question is so blindingly obvious, so
god-damned
simple
that it could be missed entirely. When I give my word, my word
shows up
in my speaking ie in my
language,
and therefore literally in ... my ... mouth.
Werner
has articulated it often in what seems to be an unusually-phrased
adage,
"Transformation shows up
in my mouth.". You could spend a lot time
arguing about it before
discovering
that's perfectly, elegantly,
brilliantly
true.
I don't have the answer to
Werner's
question "Where is your word when it comes time for you to keep your
word?".
I may have an answer to it. Maybe I even have more than
one "an" answer to it. But I certainly don't have the
answer to it - like my answer is not only the answer but
like it's the right one (as if there even is
such a thing as the right answer). So anything I say here reflects my
inquiry into it, rather than my conclusion from drawn it.
"In my commitment" isn't a satisfactory answer to the question.
"Commitment" isn't the ballpark of the answer. While I'm
committed to keeping my word, "In my commitment" isn't a
satisfactory answer for me to the question "Where is your word when
it comes time for you to keep your word?". The perils of
"Commitment" as an answer, are fraught with the same perils as my word
is. The question "Where is your commitment when it comes
time for you to fulfill on your commitment?" is really the same
question highlighting the same issues as
Werner's
original question does with regard to my word.
* * *
need an opportunity for action, and managing integrity of desired
action
giving my word only exists for the duration of my speaking it
most people never give any thought as to what happens to my word when I
close my mouth
need a powerful way to keep word in existence
doing now, not doing now, never doing now
* * *
"Where is your word when it comes time for you to keep your word?"
"Where is your word when it comes time for you to keep your word?"
"Where is your word when it comes time for you to keep your word?"
"Where is your word when it comes time for you to keep your word?"
"Where is your word when it comes time for you to keep your word?"
"Where is your word when it comes time for you to keep your word?"
"Where is your word when it comes time for you to keep your word?"
"Where is your word when it comes time for you to keep your word?"
"Where is your word when it comes time for you to keep your word?"
"Where is your word when it comes time for you to keep your word?"
"Where is your word when it comes time for you to keep your word?"
The presentation, delivery, and style of
"Where Is Your Word When It Comes Time For You To Keep Your
Word?"
are all my own work.
The ideas recreated in
"Where Is Your Word When It Comes Time For You To Keep Your Word?"
were first originated, distinguished, and articulated by
Werner Erhard.
