Remember the book Everything I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten? Well if that is true, then a lot of people I have run into over the years must have been absent on those days! Do you agree?
Why does it seem like we are seeing more and more people who missed Kindergarten? What happened to just a Please and Thank You? What happened to Excuse me? What happened to being nice to other people? What happened to do unto others as you would have them do unto you? What happened to helping out others when in need?
I say nothing happened to "out there." Nothing happened to other people. Nothing happened to the world around us. I say something happended "inside" each and of everyone of us that allowed these to become "normal" everyday behaviors. I say it was each and everyone of us who didn't hold either our own kids or others around us responsible for NOT living by these simple but profound rules of behavior. I say it was a lot of us that thought it was "someone or something out there" that needs to turn this around. I waited for those "in power" to make it happen. And because I waited for everyone to change it, except me, nothing changed for the better. And the changes that we are seeing today didn't happen overnight. Like a slow moving fog, it creeped into our homes, businesses and communities.
Back on what I now call the "old planet," saying Please and Thank you was expected. The structure was set and everyone knew it. Talking back to elders was just not heard of. Holding the door for "a lady" was the right thing to do. The "old planet" was pretty good when it came to the structure being set in these simple "Kindergarten" areas of virtues. Boys were raised to become young men. Girls were raisied to become young ladies. And the pay off was seen and heard in the "work ethic" we all experienced or read about in "the good old days."
Getting back to the good old days can be as simple as raising the bar and setting the structure for how people talk and act while you are around. If you yourself set the structure when it comes to use of language, dressing appropriately, acting appropriately, showing up on time, working hard EVEN when the boss is not around, being kind to others EVEN when they might not reciprocrate, saying Please and Thank You and making the right choices then this is omething you have 100% control over. Change is only going to take place when one person takes the bull by the horns and starts it.
Tell me what you are doing to make a change in your business? Tell me what you are doing to tipsthe scales just a little in the right direction? Share with me a story of how one person can really make a difference?
Comments