Unless you have been living under a rock, you have no doubt seen stories, read articles or gotten tweets about news anchor Brian Williams and how he lied, “misremembered,” about being shot at in a helicopter while reporting from Iraq. You have to wonder what the guy was thinking to do something so foolish and harmful to his career. Time and NBC will tell how his fate plays out. In the meantime, the Williams gaffe reminds me of another willful action that can be costly in business.
Bad manners. One in particular is on my mind today: the courtesy of taking the time to reply to a legitimate email or phone message. I am not talking about obvious spam or email blasts, but to genuine personalized messages.
This came up in a breakfast conversation this morning with a prominent writer. He told me how, using referrals, he had approached a number of other prominent business gurus for possible blurbs for his book. He had sent along a copy of the book and a letter referencing their common acquaintance or the reason why he thought that person would be interested in his topic. Some agreed (yea!) More replied with one sentence that they were too busy and wished him luck (fair enough). But a surprising number never replied at all (just plain rude).
It is interesting to note that it was the most senior people (e.g., Warren Buffet) who replied and the lesser (younger) lights who did not.
Since when did good manners become a generational issue? Are good manners going the way of land lines and floppies? I hope not. Manners are one of the few things that grease the wheels of social interations..
At a minimum, good manners are good for business. We tend to remember those who do not respond and you never know when those paths will cross again. So, given the choice, you might as well be courteous at all times.
“You can get through life with bad manners, but it’s easier with good manners.”
Anne Miller
Make What You Say Pay!