Communication

Recently, I was reminded of the importance of Communication and Respect by a dance instructor. “As a leader, you must set the tone by your posture and frame. Your partner must feel safe in your presence.”

In other words, I must come to the dance floor sure of who I am — and willing to extend an invitation to someone sure of who she is. Otherwise, a wreck is guaranteed — toes will be stepped upon and feelings will be hurt.

Respect

What would you do if someone screamed, “You’re a Dumb F#cker!” And, then went on to yell, “I have no respect for you!”

Yes, I know, that paragraph is missing the “?” at the end. Yet, the experience for me was more about the “!” — or, in other words, the exclamation of ignorance and arrogance.

Thankfully for both of us the proclamation in the first paragraph, above, was made in a phone conversation. Otherwise, I might have been tempted to persuade him to respect his elders. Although, I do have to say, this guy is Number 1 in my book. In 35+ years of serving the public as a CPA, I had never heard those words. First time for everything, I guess.

If one is an incident, two is a coincidence, and three is a pattern, then I have a Story to share with YOU.

Heard and Understood

Communication Is What The Listener Does

Upon calling Support and hearing, Press 1 for English, 2 for @#$%, we select the language of greatest comprehension. We want to hear and understand the solution to our situation.

Do we offer the same in our interpersonal communications?

Or, do we launch off into a discourse that is foreign to the ears of our partner? When they seem puzzled, do we simply ‘turn up the volume’ and give them another dose of @#$%?

Free Advice

Through the years, I’ve given lots of free advice. I’m beginning to realize that’s been a very bad character trait.

» Advice — the wise don’t need it and the fools won’t heed it.
» Free — the perception of something worth nothing.

So, this week, when I said “No, thanks,” to an opportunity of continuing in my tradition of offering free advice, the response was enlightening. Well, I was enlightened. The person making the request was shocked. They were shocked that I would, could, should, and did say, “No.”