It seems everywhere one looks, one is confronted with incivility.
Virtually everything we see in the news–regardless where you live, what your political leanings, it seems our leaders cannot be civil with each other or even to the people they represent.
Social media is plagued with incivility. Whether hiding in anonymity, emboldened by not having to deal face to face, every day we experience unspeakable behaviors and actions.
In our day to day work, whether it is with colleagues, partners, customers, increasingly we see incivility.
The problem is incivility is so limiting. It stops us from learning, growing. We limit our own possibilities, those of our organizations, communities and nations through incivility.
Incivility is not just that which we see popularized in the news or in social media, those represent, perhaps the worst example.
We see it, even contributing to it in so many ways.
- The inability to listen openly to a different point of view.
- The quick assignment of blame, attributing rightness or wrongness to differing views or approaches.
- Being distracted by our devices, rather than being totally focused and present in the conversation or meeting.
- Forgetting to say please, or thank you. The inability to express and experience gratitude.
- Caring more for yourself than others.
If we want to grow, as individuals, organizations, and societies, we need to change, and it’s so simple. We just have to change our mindset, we have to create new habits.
Becoming civil is simple, it’s empowering, it’s engaging, it’s fun.
Consider creating a habit of being more civil. Perhaps a simple start is to reach out to someone and thank them.
Perhaps, with each of us conducting one act of civility and graciousness each days could start a movement and change the world.
Interesting TED talk
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