The most powerful part of your body. This is your daily message from Chad number 588 and this message is dedicated to the dean of Problem Solving University, the honorable Christina Lyon (you can call her hotline at 512-629-4100.

Over 20 years ago in Chicago I heard a talk by a Yahoo executive Tim Sanders. He authored a book title “Love Is the Killer App”. I have heard a lot of talks in my life. I can remember relatively few. But I remember Tim’s.

He tells the story about a manager named Steve who decided to make a more personal connection with his team by giving each of them a positive personal and professional comment. Two days after these interactions, one of his engineers, Lenny, came to Steve’s cubicle with a gift. It was an Xbox gaming system and a copy of the John Madden Football video game. When Steve asked why Lenny would give him such an over-the-top, lavish gift, Lenny explained that he had worked at the company for two years without Steve ever asking him a single question about himself personally. The personal acknowledgment from Steve had such an impact that Lenny decided to sell his chrome-plated 9mm gun which he planned to use to take his life.

The most powerful part of your body is your tongue. With it you speak words that have the power of life and death in them. I would wager you can think of a comment someone made to you that has stuck with you, maybe for years. It could have been negative or positive and to the person who said it was perhaps an off-handed, insignificant remark. Maya Angelou has a powerful perspective on the words we speak. She says, “Words are things. You must be careful with your words. Someday we’ll be able to measure the power of words. I think they are things. They get on the walls. They get in your wallpaper. They get in your rugs, in your upholstery, and your clothes, and finally into you.”

You may think that talk is cheap. In one sense that’s true. But it can cost you. Words spoken at the wrong time or in the wrong way can damage. Your words aren’t nothing. Your words are weighty. Don’t hold back a kind word to someone who deserves it. When you notice something worth mentioning, work done well or just a good feeling generated, acknowledge and appreciate it by labeling with your words. You don’t know how meaningful your words can be.