Tip # 56 “Hey, did you hear about Felicity and her husband? Thirty years of marriage and now this…”
The latest scoop is always the juiciest. In a large company of 5,000 employees, for instance, if you were to tally the number of lovers’ quarrels, miscarriages, divorces, children on drugs, children who dropped out of school, cosmetic procedures done, who’s wearing the latest hi-tech heart pacer and who got terminated, you’d probably come up with an astonishing number.
But there’s no need to take pen and paper to tally up the figures because this is where word of mouth works best. The rumor mill has never been riper and…juicier.
If you try to camouflage your procrastination by pretending to be genuinely concerned about the gruesome details of a divorce or mastectomy, you’re only cheating yourself. Basking in the misery of others is counter productive to professional achievement.
Tip # 57 To echo the martyr idea mentioned earlier…
Mentoring is one of the more valuable contributions you can make to a company. Its positive effects must never be underestimated. Many a successful human being had a mentor or several mentors at different stages of his life.
But anything carried out to excess has a negative effect. If you think you have a sacred duty to mentor your subordinate because you want to develop his potential for a managerial role, then do so. Just don’t do it excessively, or else someone above you will begin to think, “Those who can’t, teach.” Apply the brakes on your predilection for over-mentoring.
