Maintaining Social Media Sanity

I had to make one of the hard decision in life and it involved disconnecting myself from a long time business colleague. Tolerance is a virtue that vacillates with the ebb and flow of conditions that exist. Having prided myself with the ability to tolerate, to overlook character flaws that we all have, there comes a time when it requires a decision. In this case it was to silently disconnect and do so in order to avoid further contention. Sincerely I believe that the fervor of the topic and the character of the individual were such that it would not have resulted in pleasantly tries.

As a social media user I maintain some personal standards that not only apply to myself but also those that I interact with. This includes,

• Maintenance of respect and decorum,
• Exclusion of those that betray my strict code involving direct solicitation,
• Opinions are based on knowledge, there comes a question when a lack of knowledge having been replaced with emotion. These we excuse ourselves from and likewise exercise depth of topical discernment and avoidance of secondary declarative (sometimes biased) sources,
• Dialogs that are clearly intended to persuade rather than increase position awareness,
• Rejection of inflammatory dialog, name calling, characterizations and prejudice, and
• In flight topics in which commentaries are already formed, whether correct or not. Otherwise it becomes just another person on the pile expressing their rights to be heard without value contribution.

We all get sucked into these types of interchanges. Personally I like a bit of lively banter but this isn’t always the case even amongst friends.

The Divide

As stated previously I have had to purge friends, whether they came from personal or business lines, because of a breach of confidence. In the most recent case I had know this individual for nearly 20 years. He would be best characterized as an ‘influencer’ in that he has held positions of authority and stature. As a result people would gravitate to him in subliminal desires to be favored either directly or by general association. In my particular case our relationship grew out of a business interchange and subsequent activities that took place over a period of time. The ironic side of a professional and personal connection that you are also exposed to the private life they lead. In this particular case one would say it was tumultuous and exemplified repeated behavioral failures. But it was overlooked and not ignored.

Lately in the waning in position and popularity I observed an shift from conservative reserve to a more public exposure on positions. One can only speculate as to why and the person would be the individual who could answer that question. But by stumbling into this uncharacteristic arena they did so breaking all of the norms of respect. The most blatant involved name calling, presenting fact less opinions on a topic and in a arena that they have no investment in. It would be equivalent to me critiquing an enterprise leader who I had no involvement or influence with; simply not by rodeo that produces zero value.  So what is the purpose and what would be gained? I have my suspicion s but will refrain to share these because I base my acts on facts, not speculation.  It should also be noted that this isn’t the first time this has occurred and that it has happened on this topic and others.

In a much broader context we are seeing more and more caustic and emotion filled orations coming from prominent individuals. This throws, in my mind, the question about their talents, abilities and thinking. If they are willing to bring discussions to a personal and defamatory level what does that say about their business dealings?  It could be a matter of rolling the dice and hoping that their delivery will garner support from similar thinkers or they ambivalent to the risk of loss in general?

In Our Case

My organization and myself attempt to maintain the highroad and in doing so maintain our dignity. This isn’t with the intention of being righteous but being what we view as responsible but more importantly constructive behavior. The direction must be one of progress and advancement and not to ignite and inferno that will only result in destruction.  We avoid those incendiary conditions that such the life from ones soul. As stated previously, we enjoy lively ‘productive’ dialogs but when they turn bad its best to divert our energies elsewhere.

Yes, I purged a friend and did so for my own well-being. I never used him as a stepping stone and will always maintain a level of respect of him. It is a respect loss professionally, which now joins with a long running loss of respect from his personal journeys’. There are no hard feelings because his public behavior did not direct itself towards me but reflected his loss of respect in himself. We are who we make of ourselves and is not reflected in the acclaim of others who can easily change over the course of time.

Freely Redistribute/Share With Our Permission ?2020

Clarity Group Global is an intellectual decision validation institution dedicated to the support of leaders, companies and organizations that face challenging choices. Making right decisions that produce significant value equates to less disruption and chaos, "non-tradition made exceptional".

Examples and illustrations are used for purposes of contextually clarity. These fervently adhere to our unwavering commitment to client confidentiality and should be construed as a ploy to self-promote.