Earlier this month, I posed a question to our readers regarding our respect tip series. I wanted to know what were their respect tips. From the couple responses I got, I chose to highlight Teresa’s this week. In her comment, she mentioned how although everyone seems to be in a hurry, it wouldn’t hurt to say “please” and “thank you” every now again, instead of simply demanding something be done. She’s right. They are simple phrases that we often forget to utter and ones that can make a huge difference [...]

The other day I was stopped in traffic behind a car that had a bumper sticker that read, “Tolerance – Believe In It.” Maybe, you’ve seen it before. As you can see it’s purple (that color we associate with diversity apparently) and tolerance is spelled out using different religious symbols to embody that yes, we are tolerant, because we are displaying everyone’s religion - at least all the major ones! As I’ve said before, tolerance is great but respect is so much better. Tolerance is passive, whereas respect is active. If I tolerate you, [...]

The other day I was listening to the radio and heard an ad for a local bank. While the ad wasn’t too memorable, the following phrase describing the relationship with their customers was: “We treat customers how they want to be treated.” We have all heard about the Golden Rule, where we are are supposed to treat others how we’d like to be treated. The only thing wrong with this is that it is all about us and not the person we are dealing with. Say What? While the Platinum [...]

“Organizations that truly leverage difference cultivate the capabilities to engage with and learn from diverse stakeholders, including employees, customers, partners, and communities.”  - Martin Davidson, The End of Diversity As We Know It I first saw mention of The End of Diversity As We Know It on Twitter during the fall. As someone who dislikes the traditional notion of diversity, I was intrigued by the title. I contacted Martin Davidson the author begging for a review copy. I just knew it was something I wanted to share with our readers, and I was right! According to Davidson [...]

About six months ago, I created a new series here on the blog to focus on actionable respect tips. These tips may have seemed obvious to many of us, but they were also intended to be reminders for us all. Too often, we get so immersed in our busy lives that we forget to pay attention to  these so-called “niceties.” But more than a “nicety,” respect has become imperative to how we interact and work with one another. That’s why I want to find out from you. What is YOUR respect tip? What are [...]

“A leader leads by example, whether he intends to or not.” ~ Unknown The most effective leaders don’t use words to lead, they use their actions. Think about it. Who, as a leader, has influenced you the most in your life or career? Do you remember them more for the words they spoke to you or the life they led? It could be a bit a both but probably their actions were more memorable in the end. We can all say that we want to be a good leader, we [...]

While this tip can have multiple interpretations, I am referring to meetings. You know the person ( maybe it’s you!) who monopolizes an entire meeting with their comments. Or it’s the person, who gives the longest explanation for the simplest point. Whoever it is, you get the idea. This type of disruptive and disrespectful behavior takes many forms. Make it Happen The next time you are in a meeting and notice that you are contributing too much, try to scale it back, if necessary. Instead let the person, who never [...]

Last night while watching NBC Nightly News, they featured a story about people looking for work and a center that provides them with classes and coaching. One of the exercises that the job seekers were required to participate in involved being videoed while mock interviewed. Afterward, they were required to watch a playback of the video but with the sound turned down. Why? Well, if you’ve ever taking a public speaking class, you know that usually one of the assignments requires you to be taped speaking so you can see [...]

One surefire way to create respect among people is to look for common ground. Too often we let our differences divide us instead of looking for our similarities. I bet we’d be surprised by how much we all have in common. A great example of this revolves around values. I know the word has gotten some bad press lately, but what I am talking about are the core values that each and every one of us hold dear. These types of values are personal but help shape the way we [...]

Imagine that each and every day you are wearing an invisible backpack. And that the people you interact with either add to it with positive or negative emotions. At the end of the day, how heavy is your emotional backpack? This is a metaphor that stems from our Connecting With Respect program that we lead for organizations. In this program, we ask participants to explain (in behavioral and actionable) terms what respect and disrespect feel like. We then go on to explain how those behaviors create the emotions that end [...]