home business hints

DON'T MENTION NAMES –
UNLESS THEY'RE WORTH MENTIONING.

Sometimes it happens. Someone lets you down in business dealings. Or they just rub you the wrong way. Or you've heard something negative about them and now you're wondering what to believe.

These home business hints apply to men as well as women – though women tend to be more catty about it (Being female, of course, I can say this.) I often find myself in networking environments where other women talk about their business relationships, dropping names of people – whom I often have the privilege of knowing – and then proceeding to "assassinate" their characters.

The problem with this is it then hinders my ability to experience the person they're speaking of, objectively. People seem to think they're doing you a favor by "warning" you about others or belittling them in some way. But I prefer to make up my own mind about people, without all the negative commentary. Plus when I hear negative things about people, it affects the way I perceive who's being talked about AND how I perceive who's doing the talking. I say just don't mention names.

In fact, if I see someone about to go there, I ask them to please not mention names, that I'd prefer not to get into that kind of conversation about people. This usually works just fine and people respect my wishes.

Generically, it's fine to cite personal examples of challenges and issues that come up, to illustrate a business lesson learned or provide insight into how to handle tough situations.

But no names, please – unless it's to offer praise and adulation, or to genuinely share constructive feedback.

If you have issues with someone, take it directly to that person. This seems obvious but most people would prefer to grumble and gripe and make others wrong. It's much easier than the courage we'd have to muster to actually say how we're feeling to other people.

Be bold in letting someone know what your perception is of them or the situation. Who knows. You may be completely off. Or the person may surprise you with, "Thank you for coming to me with this. I had no idea that's how you were perceiving me."

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