Can’t Be Both
I keep thinking about a conversation I had with my son. We were talking about people he worked with. He’s had jobs since he was 16 years old. So we had quite a gallery to review and dissect.
In the way of discussions about past coworkers, the topic really became how to deal with difficult people. We got to the idea that difficult people are regular folks who just happen to think differently than we do. He saw plenty of examples in his own life in which people thought he was “difficult” when he merely had another idea.
“But, what do you do,” he said, “when someone sees you in the wrong light? It doesn’t matter if you think they’re being difficult or they think you are.”
“Well, one thing I’ve found out is that you can’t be mad and supportive of another person at the same time. Mad gets you looking at yourself. Supportive gets you looking at the other guy.”
If you want to be the dealer, not the difficult one, you gotta join the other guys’ team and then figure out what to do from there.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
