Deliveries

Back when I was pretending to be a football coach, I learned the importance of delivering.

Bert (not his real name) was one of my athletes.  He had better than average athletic ability, better than average intelligence, better than average initiative.

Bert spent endless hours telling me about how he was gonna get stronger, about how many tackles he was gonna make, about how he was gonna improve his speed, about the awards/titles he was gonna win (and help us win).  Bert would espouse these proclamations to me on the field, in my office, on the bus, in the weight room, in the hallway...

Bert spent all his time telling me about what he was going to do, and very little time delivering.  I later observed that same sort of Bert-like behavior as I moved on to work in other organizations.  

My learning?  
Most common:  When the folks delivering the goods are the ones who spend the least time talking about what they're gonna deliver.  
Extremely rare:   When the ones doing the Bert-talk are the ones delivering the goods.

Deliveries matter.