Mom always said “People Know”

No body talks about the elephant in the room. It’s too uncomfortable. The boss goes ballistic if you mention that subject to her.

Its too embarrassing. If I bring that subject up, then everyone will know about it.

An EOS colleague and friend of mine, Rip Tilden, remembers his mother reminding him,- “People know”. He calls it his mother’s greatest leadership lesson. It’s true in your family and its true in your neighborhood.

It’s also true in your business. Let’s face it. There are very few secrets in most small companies. Everybody already knows about it.

If it’s that employee that you can’t bring yourself to terminate for poor performance, everyone knows about him already. They are probably upset with you for not doing anything about him and expecting them to work harder to compensate for him.

If it’s that personal friend of yours, or your family’s, you haven’t been able to talk with about the significant money that is owed your company, everybody knows. Everyday that this continues, you lose respect in their eyes. That person is not your friend if you can’t discuss this issue directly with him.

What elephant is in your room? What aren’t you dealing with? Resolve to do so now. You are hurting, not helping, your company more every day that you wait. If you want a great resource, read Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott. If you want to talk about it, let me know. Good luck.