I’ve always been astonished by people who play politics in business. The ones who can talk out of both sides of their mouths. These are people who can simultaneously dole out lavish praise while twisting the knife deeper in your back.
It’s time to put our collective foot down as self-respecting business people. We have the option to remove ourselves from conversations, partnerships, and situations where knife-twisting is aimed at us or our allies – and an obligation to act decisively when that knife-twisting is done in our name.
We all do it from time to time. Somebody burns us, we get to bellyaching, badmouthing… feeling less than our best. Turning a blind eye – or worse, playing into the instinctual, knee-jerk reaction of communal schadenfreude – just isn’t good enough.
It’s high time all of us quit bitchin’, backstabbing, and badmouthing and actually get some meaningful work done.
(Header photo: Backstabber by kptice)
