To be a strong and successful business, do 7 things to develop respect.

I’ve noticed an alarming trend over the past decade.

We seem to be losing our ability to show respect and appreciate another person’s perspective.

When movements are made based on a belief that only certain people have exclusivity on expertise predicated on “personal experience”, we drift in a dangerous direction.

I have also noticed “ideas” are being born based on specious claims that can’t be supported by any scientific or historical evidence.

It’s easy to indoctrinate people in emotional propaganda when the average person lacks perspective about the efficacy of untenable arguments.? Keep in mind, less than 12% of recent High School graduates and 15% of all adults can answer basic questions about American History.?

Many “ideas” are being offered in the name of open conversation, but those conversations are carefully regulated by controlling the audience that engages in the debate.? The result, an enthusiast gathering of blind supporters that reside in an echo chamber.? When these ideas matriculate into academia, business, and government, we gravitate in a dangerous direction.

Freedom of speech, ideas and open conversation must be preserved, even at the expense of “getting our feelings hurt”.

Strong countries and organizations aren’t built by consensus, they arise when people merge and learn from each other’s “unique perspectives”.?

Weaknesses are created when people are forced to be silent, and bitterness builds as ideas and open discourse is sequestered.

My organization thrives because it’s always been committed to diverse and inclusive dialogue.? We embrace uncomfortable conversations and create an atmosphere of respect and safety, and it’s based on sincerity.?

Businesses have a choice.? They can jump on bandwagons, or get serious about modeling what true compassion, understanding, empathy, kindness, tolerance, and respect looks like.?

One path is genuine, the other is disingenuous and results in friction, coercion, compliance, and manipulation. We've seen over the past few years how effective those "policies" became.

To be a strong and successful business, do 7 things to develop respect:

Listen

Listening is a lost art that is destroying civility and ruining the ability to unite despite our differences.? 90% of us listen poorly and the effects are devastating.? We are all shouting to be heard and very few people are listening to understand.? So called “leaders” are the worst perpetrators and their public examples are often appalling.? Strong organizations model better listening and they don’t get married to ideas that alienate people from participating in conversation.??? ??

Reiterate

Respect grows stronger when we clearly hear another person and reiterate what we learned.? Affirmation is the art of truly listening and then responding empathically by affirming what was said.? It’s also the art of providing people with positive support, encouragement and validation.? Reiterating positive affirmation each day is a great way to cultivate respect.??

Serve

Most organizations value serving their employees, or at least that’s what they claim in their “mission statements”.? The problem, it isn’t modeled and it’s not practiced.? When over 85% of all employees said they were actively looking for work in a recent survey and sited "lack of strong leadership" as the cause, pay attention.? Many leaders fool themselves into believing they are “servant leaders” because they regurgitate all the right cliches.? But when your teams don’t believe it, we have a problem.? Serving people is how we gain respect, and we do it by demonstrating kindness, compassion and caring.

Kindness

Shoving ideas down people’s throat isn’t kind and it doesn’t create widespread synergy.? When we bully people into submission, we may win temporary victories, but the war wages, even if non-conformist remain silent.? The greatest leaders in history brought people together by promoting love and kindness, not by using division, guilt, and shame.? Organizations that use these tactics eventually pay a price.

Respect

Being polite has vanished.? Yelling and using social media to silence our adversaries require no emotional intelligence.? Loudmouth politicians love to hide behind their computers and make virulent attacks.? People can pick fights and inflict damage without contemplating the consequences.? Every neurotic narcissist now can assert their inveterate opinions and create irreparable damage to respect in the process.? We need to learn to be polite again and use powerful tools for spreading hope and positivity.? It’s easy to be mean and cruel, gaining respect takes patience and restraint.????????

Gratitude

Human beings crave appreciation and offering thanks is a great place to start.? With so much emphasis on expressing “opinions”, the emphasis is misplaced and the opportunity to spread gratitude is lost.? With everyone shouting to be heard or remaining silent to avoid being ostracized, the best ideas are nullified by the noise.? Organizations that value human connection and express gratitude prevail when their efforts to express appreciation are genuine and pervasive.??

Forgive

We have two political parties that clearly detest one another, and friction, animosity and contempt are clearly visible.? Cultivating respect requires being able to disagree and remain civil.? Harboring animosity and fueling hatred will be the demise of great organizations that demand obedience.? Forgiveness requires letting bad feelings and disagreements go and focusing on forward momentum.? Real leaders don’t have the luxury of taking everything personally.? We need to forgive one another and forge ahead to make life better for everyone we guide.?

Sum it up.

What other suggestions to you have for encouraging a true atmosphere of open ideas?? Share your thoughts in the comments section and please like and share this article. I love learning from you as well.

About Steve:

Steve Wohlenhaus is CEO of Weatherology, the leading company in the world at disseminating audio weather information.?? Steve began his career as a major market television weather anchor in Minneapolis, where he received several Emmy Awards for science programming.? Steve is the author and host of the podcast program Anatomy of Success.? Reach out and connect with me on LinkedIn.? Learn more about my work and grab the free Weatherology mobile app by clicking any picture in this article!