Gossip can kill careers.
Not only the career of the person talked about
but of the person doing the talking.
When I hear someone pass along information
they shouldn’t,
I immediately put that person
in the do not talk to category.
Because I know if they gossip about others,
they will gossip about me
or my projects
or my beloved sources.
I try not to gossip
but sometimes the gossip is too juicy
to keep to myself
and I need to talk it out with someone
because it might affect me.
When that happens,
I turn to a handful of buddies
with my own stance on gossip.
I’ll choose one of those buddies,
well out of the industry I’m ‘gossiping’ about
to confide in.
I’ll tell the story,
leaving out names or other identifiers
(and because the buddy isn’t in the industry,
he or she doesn’t care about the gossip enough
to probe for more information).
I’ll ask for his/her feedback.
The urge to gossip is satisfied,
I get another opinion on it,
and my reputation is still intact.
Gossip carefully.