The biggest lesson I have learnt in the 24 years that I have been working is: 

Don’t be a dick! 🤬

That’s it…….

24 years and that’s the single biggest lesson. 👨‍🎓

Let me put some context behind this though.

At 12, I had a paper round in the village where I grew up. 🚴🏻📰 📫

At Christmas, I posted a card to every house on my round wishing the customer and their family, a lovely Christmas from their paperboy, Adam 🎅🎄

That single act netted me more in tips, than the newsagent paid me for an entire year of delivering papers. That’s not why I did it, but the result was amazing! 💰 💰

None of the other paperboys and papergirls did this, and they were lucky if they got enough to fill a bag of pick’n’mix in tips. 🍭 🍬

Fast forward 7 years and I was lucky enough to be placed into the management training programme with Sainsburys where I had been working, stacking shelves since I was 15 (Yes, I was allowed a proper job at 15 back then) 🏪

As a manager, I had to deal with all manner of people all day, every day. 🤼‍♂️ 👨🏾‍🎨 👩🏾‍🚒 👨🏼‍🦯

I was 19 and somebody thought it was a good idea to leave me in charge of a Store turning over more than £1 million a week. But I went with it and relished the challenge. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I could set my watch by certain customers. ⏱

I knew when they would come in, who was going to be nice, and who was going to use me as a punch bag to take out their ‘Tough Day’ on. 🥊 🥋

The customers who were nice, even when they were unhappy and had something genuine to complain about, got everything I had in my power to give them. Replacement products, Goodwill vouchers and sometimes even a gift as well. 💰 🍾 💐

Then there were the Dicks! 🤬

They got nothing from me apart from a huge dose of sarcasm that did nothing other than leave them more wound up than they were when they decided to use me as an object to direct their anger and negativity at. 🤯 🤭

As a business owner, or a leader, you have 2 choices. ✌️

Be nice, respect and nurture your team and watch them grow and flourish, knowing they will always have your back. 💑

Or, you can be a Dick, and use and abuse your team as you see fit. 🤬

But ask yourself, will your team have your back when the chips are down, or will they jump ship and head off to sunnier climes leaving you alone 🛥🏝 , wondering how you ended up here when everything was going so well before? 🤷‍♂️

You have a choice….. 🤔

But I urge you, don’t chose to be a Dick. 🤬

That’s it for today.

Have a great week.

I’d love to hear your experiences of dealing with people, be it customers, bosses or even if you’ve caught yourself on the wrong side of the line and what you did to rectify it.

Pop your stories in the comments below.

Bye for now 👋 👋 👋