Edible Fact!
Business is personal, and those that say business is business are just covering up their “assholeness” with this fictious mantra. I say fictious because it is not true. People get hurt and upset, and that’s a fact. When someone is fired, reprimanded, demeaned, or cut out of the equation, they don’t respond shrugging their shoulders and say, “well, business is business.” Instead, they think of all the hard work, labor, and time away from someone or something else that could have provided a more positive and fulfilling mental state.
Only the person inflicting this mantra to others believes business should not be personal. Why? To elevate the person enacting the hurt from any responsibility. In other words, condone their behavior. At least this is how I look at it and I’m sticking to it.
I say all the above to get personal with people in managerial or leadership positions to understand the role they play. It is a huge responsibility. When people try and succeed, we often don’t credit them. When people try and fail, we often do not give take the time to find out what went wrong to help them succeed in the future. Instead, we tally. Tally up the times of failure and impact to the business. Therefore, when we cut someone loose or write them up, providing the litany of reasons why but never reflecting on our own strengths and weaknesses.
As businesswomen, we have the ability to change this dynamic. When we change the mantra to what is true, that business is personal, then our reactions to the people around us will improve. This is a fact.
Now to get my husband to listen to it. 😉