Have you heard the story about the visiting professor who when he came in to do his guest lecture—half the people who were in the room walked in through one door and received a little flyer that said, “Great guy, brilliant. You’re going to love today.”? The other half of the room walked in a different door, received a different form that said, “He’s brilliant, but he’s a bit of a jerk.” Guess what the research showed when they walked back out the door?
When surveyed, the people who were told that he’s brilliant and wonderful and kind said exactly that. Those who were told that he was evil incarnate said exactly that. That is why you should never listen to someone say something negative about another person. What if they were saying that about you? I want that to settle in. What if they said that about you? How would that feel? How safe do you feel in the work place?
So here’s the commitment that you need to make. If anyone starts to say something negative to one another, you’re already sucked in and you have an ethical responsibility at that moment, not to say, “You need to go talk to so and so” because they won’t—you need to say, “There’s always two opinions about that. Let’s go find out what Jimmy has to say about that and find out exactly what his opinion is.” Let’s come from an ethical place that respects other human beings and let them be free to be safe in the workplace. Can you sign up for that? Because if you don’t, I guarantee you if you’re saying hurtful things about others, they’re going to say hurtful things about you. Let’s keep it clean and build a workplace where you love to be.