I went to The Home Depot the other day to get hooks for hanging a mirror. I wasn’t sure where they were in the store and I am the queen of efficiency in a place like that—no dillydallying for me—so I asked. As I began to inquire with a woman wearing her clearly identifiable orange vest, she started talking to another colleague, so I stopped talking. He immediately got irritated with me and said, “Just spit it out!” I was shocked, I didn’t even think they were talking to me. I instantly felt equally annoyed with both of them as I wondered, ‘What just happened here?”

I don’t go to The Home Depot for their outgoing and friendly staff, but this is a great example of, “how we treat people matters”— a lot! Instantly, in that moment with both sales clerks, I was ticked off, and rightfully so. I honestly wanted to leave, but time was too valuable to me to drive down the road to Lowe’s Home Improvement, but I will next time. This is the classic cause and effect relationship. Will I go back to The Home Depot? Not for awhile. Am I telling you my story? Yup. There is a big ripple effect from bad behavior.

Now let’s take a look at our own leadership styles. Have we ticked people off? Even if it was justified, AND we were right, I want all of us to see the cause and effect of how we treat people. When people get ticked off they talk. They tell their story to anyone who will listen—it’s human nature. And even if we were right, we made an enemy and enemies aren’t what we want as a leader. That will never play out well. Resentment is not the foundation on which we build our leadership. How we treat people matters.

Let’s GO! WE GOT THIS!

BETH