Respect | Career Angles

Because of our political climate and the impact of social media, many have developed a bad habit of weaponizing conversations, even in the workplace.

Conversations are turned into battles and arguments with petty resentments lingering for years.

We forget the wonderful lesson from, “The Godfather,” when Al Pacino playing the character of Michael Corleone proposes a revenge hit on the people who are behind the attempted murder of their father. Michael has always been the good son who stayed out of the family business and his older brother, Sonny, teases him in response to the suggestion, thinking that Michael was acting out of anger.

“It’s not personal, Sonny,” Michael says. “It’s strictly business.”

We personalize many things that translate into a difference of opinion. That doesn’t make the other person or ourselves right or wrong. We see things differently from our own experiences.

If you think about how decisions are made, it involves quick processing of millions of pieces of information and the elimination of those that don’t fit our worldview, through these “lenses” we display or confirmation bias — information that fits our narrative is included. Information that doesn’t fit it is often excluded.