In many large organisations, ranging from the Catholic Church to Virgin Media, there is a yawning schism between the documented beliefs of the organisation and the actions of those who supposedly represent those beliefs.

I have recently endured a tortuous and ultimately meaningless experience with one of the aforementioned organisations. Although the stated ethos of this organisation is to connect the masses in one glorious quad play world, what they actually did was to connect some bad ass Barabbas with my bank account details.

According to the vision and mission statements of the organisation, this should be an easy matter to resolve. However, it has taken months of seemingly endless and pointless conversations with Customer Concern Representatives in far off lands.

The only clear message to come out of this experience is that the stated visions and values of an organisation and how they are lived by the representatives of that organisation are usually quite different. This is not really surprising as it is folly to think that an organisation can have values and visions. It is people who have values and visions, not organisations.

So if you are fortunate enough to be in a lofty post of all-seeing omniscience, here are some questions you may find it valuable to reflect on. Who are the people who represent your organisation? Who actually has to live the values that you so zealously preach to the masses? How much do you value them? Do you value them enough to enable them to authentically connect with someone who needs help? Who are your representatives on Earth?