'Them' and 'Us' - Part 2
If you didn’t see the first post on “Them’ and “Us’ then it’s reproduced below at the end of this short piece.
The original post produced some interesting comments, one or two really original ones and overall a very helpful group of ideas. I feel I understood how different people see the concept of ‘Them’ and ‘Us’ much better than before. And I hope that there will be further comments.
As part 2 of this "'Then' and 'Us' series". two requests and a suggestion
Request 1 : See if you can find time before the end of the week to identify an area of your life where ‘Them’ and ‘Us’ is causing a problem.
Request 2 : If you plan to do this, please comment or like or share this post
The Suggestion : For those of you planning to give yourself 10 minutes to think tomorrow this may be a suitable thing to consider.*
*(See “Wednesday May 20th – Time For us to Change. A Reminder and an Invitation” at https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/wednesday-may-20th-time-us-change-reminder-invitation-mark-m-g?trk=prof-post)
Thank you for your time Mark
IT Manager at UPS
9 年I never felt a them or an us. I only see we and the potential of unity verses divide. In the end we are made from the same fabric and have the same nature that we should strive to control if it brings about pain for ones gain. How I grow past this inclination is through acceptance and empathy, and a daily mirror check which rarely measures up to the image and character of my faith I would like to consistently be. Transparency! Let the veil down. Continous improvement! Keeps me humble. There is no them and us when one is full of humility. From a team perspective, I rarely see the winner possessing more than that of the loser. There is always another day to switch places. So I have no favorites. I just study the behavior or execution of both, rarely is either flawlessly a winner or a loser. Sound a little wishy, washy? Well it works for me. So I guess that makes you a Them. Haha! Let me think more on this. Mark M-G, great post!
Controller
9 年The concept of them creates alienation and sometimes blinds us from seeing the connection; the concept of us creates bound that sometimes blinds us from seeing the faults. Our views and judgments can become biased when we could have made better choices.
Over the years it's a perennial favorite: Management or administration as Them, while staff is Us. The managers with whom I've worked who didn't take the "we have the superior intellects" attitude were few. Similarly, the staff who didn't believe they knew all the answers, or at least more than management, were few as well. Incredibly few locales had an attitude of "we work together, recognizing everyone's strong suits while respecting that anyone can have a valid and valuable idea." When they existed, they were sweet...at least until an administrator showed up bent on breaking up the harmony.
Pensioner
9 年Can I add to the mix the following whatever our social standing we refer to those we don't consider our equal as "not one of us" which makes them one of them. Perhaps us and them is a group, tribal, sect, support etc. A club/ number of clubs we came claim we belong to. The social networks are the modern maybe ultimate us and them groups.