BLOWING SMOKE AT THE BOSS OR DOING YOUR JOB

By David Rogers

It’s funny what I’ve learned now that I’m a business owner that I never would have been able to predict when I was working on the front lines and in the trenches as an entry-level service writer many years ago… When someone tries to flatter me, it makes me want to fire them, run from them, slap them, or just laugh in their face while publicly calling them a LIAR!

I mean it’s one thing to give an honest compliment, to say something genuine or sincere about an admirable effort or accomplishment…

But it’s another thing entirely to attempt to stroke my ego with one hand while the other is reaching for my wallet…especially if this is the “effort” I get from an employee in place of hard work, instead of sticking to what I’ve asked them to do, and as opposed to honest commitment and loyalty to our customers and company.

I am sure that many people find that being flattered is reason enough to keep a person around…I can’t tell you how many shop owners I’ve seen tank their business (or come close to, anyway) because they insist on keeping around employees like these.

In some ways, I can almost understand it.  I mean let’s face it, we’re bombarded by thousands of messages on a daily basis, all of which are designed to make us feel inadequate, underpaid, unappreciated, and, well, just too fat and not cool enough…

If a person is willing to humiliate himself (or herself) and ingratiate themselves to us by licking our boots, it IS a pretty enjoyable contrast to what we see in advertisements that attack us every day.  I can’t deny that it’s a much better feeling and experience…

But is it one that’s productive, or that leads to anything genuinely valuable for either party involved?

I don’t think it is…to me it’s just another form of deception, manipulation, and trickery designed to take the place of doing the job I hired the person to accomplish, and it does not lead to any profit – certainly not in cash, and not in a longer relationship with me or my company, either.

It’s as FALSE as it is EMPTY.

Yes…I hope that at least one person can come away from it with the commitment to STOP trying to fool people with flattery and just do the work you’ve been asked to do …or just as importantly, to stop being FOOLED by flattery, and hire somebody who is concerned more with making you happy because they’re making you money.

After all, we’ve got businesses to run!  What’s more important…having your ego stroked now, or making more money for you and your family?  I think that’s the real choice…

Have different or additional thoughts?  Please reply below…let’s start a dialog!