With the crisis,
almost everyone is experiencing
a higher than normal
level of stress.
When we are stressed,
we usually don’t have
the energy
to do the hard work
of being polite,
of thinking about
other people’s feelings.
We can barely handle
our own feelings.
This means
the veil of politeness
slips more and more often.
Instead of asking someone
to maintain a safe distance
from us,
we snap at them
to get the f*ck away
from us.
Instead of giving a substandard product
a 3 star politely worded review,
we leave a 1 star
and a review like “This book is a sh*tshow.”
Instead of giving the persistent saleswoman
a ‘polite’ excuse,
we tell her exactly what we think
of the service she’s selling
AND her sales skills.
As business builders,
we will be receiving more and more
brutally honest feedback.
That will hurt.
I’m not going to sugarcoat it.
It will cause pain.
But it will also give us
some often much-needed truths,
feedback we might be able to use
to make our businesses stronger.
The veil of politeness is dropping.
We might not like
what we see behind it
but that information
CAN be useful.