Politics, Osama Bin laden and Water Cooler Talk

May/11

Politics, Osama Bin laden and Water Cooler Talk

by ReThinkHR.org | Leadership, Work, HR & Inspiration by @BenjaminMcCall under Life, People, Politics

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Politics and Religion…

at work are probably the two most difficult topics to discuss as work. Well that and sports teams! But with the news over the last week and a half over Osama Bin laden’s death and the mixed, but overly consistent reactions to it has me thinking.

I will not express these thoughts because my own thoughts around this issue are not the point of this post. The point of this post is that when we head to and come home from work, whatever we talk about in the realm of personal opinion or business affects the interactions we have with those around us. Our colleagues, co-workers, friends… and this is especially true for our kids.

Consistency

If we are to be consistent in how we interact then we need to be consistent in our actions as well. Example: If you tell your employees that you expect everyone to be on time for meetings but you yourself are consistently late to the ones you set up then what does that show your employees?

If you tell everyone that your family comes first but you work more then 60 hours a week (60 hr work week + 49 hrs for sleep + 14 hour commute + 45hr for everything else = 168 hrs in a week) your family is not shown as coming first.

The Question:

If we say that murder is wrong but then make exceptions to the rule dependant on the equation… what does that say to our kids?

The following video is from Kids React To The Darndest Things of the Day.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pkKNPEU8oc&feature=player_embedded#at=18

In this video are a few different reactions to the announcement from President Barack Obama that Osama Bin Laden is dead. They are true and insightful. Often what we display as our beliefs are what some who don’t know any better will also adopt as their beliefs. If we do not help give context then what good is the growth of those around us.

Maybe instead of being so quick to spread our opinions we should open the dialogue to understand peoples ideas!

Being “quick to judge” is not a “good judgement call”!