Are You Doing The Right Thing?
By leadership author and keynote speaker Ross Shafer
Hi everybody I’m Ross Shafer and today on the Relevant Leaders Club I want to talk about the People who tell us, “Just do the right thing.” And I think I know what that means but sometimes the right thing just feels wrong. They say the right thing is to turn the other cheek when someone injures or wrongs you…but its too easy to think that retaliation is the right thing.
People say minding your own business is the right thing …but ignoring dishonesty seems wrong; in fact it’s so wrong that lawyers and judges get paid to sort it out. Look, I know all this: I’m a decent moral guy who wouldn’t even have wrong thoughts if everybody else did the right thing. So maybe we need to change the system? Maybe we should just teach our children – and our coworkers WHAT NOT TO DO. We get them in a room and say, “Here are the Wrong Things. Don’t do these.” After all, Nine of the Ten Commandments all start with THOU SHALT NOT.
So, here’s how it would work: We tell our kids and coworkers that, Stealing is wrong. You shouldn’t steal someone property. And don’t steal their intellectual property – don’t brag to people that someone else’s brilliance was YOUR idea. Stealing a job or stealing an account, that’s wrong. Stealing your neighbor’s spouse or their firewood when they go on vacation is wrong. All Stealing is just plain wrong – so don’t do that. Let’s say that humiliating someone in public is wrong.
Humiliating your company by posting naked pictures of yourself at Burning Man when you were supposed to be at the software convention…is wrong. Being condescending – or denigrating – or belittling is in the Humiliation family – and it’s especially wrong if you do it against the person who signs your paycheck. There’s today’s lesson. Stealing and Humiliation are WRONG. And Stupid. Isn’t this easier? Instead of worrying about ‘doing the right thing’ I’m making a case for knowing what the wrong things are. Then, if you don’t do wrong things, there is a good chance you’ve unwittingly done the right things. I hope that made sense somehow.
Ross Shafer is a leadership author and keynote speaker. For more info contact Ross at Helen@RossShafer.com.
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Ross Shafer is the author of (9) popular business books and (14) human resource training films. In a former career Ross won (6) Television Emmy awards for his work as a TV host, writer, and producer. Today, Ross is a sought after keynote speaker and consultant for Fortune 500 companies worldwide.