I’ve come to realize that I have been unintentionally misled as far as the golden rule is concerned.
It’s not that the golden rule is a bad idea, in general treating others how you want to be treated is better than intentionally treating them how you don’t.
but…
it still can set you up for failure. In a similar way that letting a four year old pick out a birthday gift for a twelve year old might. While the twelve year old might be polite about it, I’m fairly certain that the glitter, sparkle princess pony is not as cool as the four year old believes it to be.
The golden rule is just another manifestation of our general tendency toward ethnocentrism, viewing the world with ourselves in the center.
In fact, we should be striving for Dan McCarthy’s Platinum rule and thinking how others want to be treated.
As usual, I have some great examples from personal experience, about what might not work so well.
Some things I’ve come to learn are:
not everyone loves an lively open brainstorming session on how to fix their most important problems
some people find debate uncomfortable
some people do not find lots of hard questions a sign of interest in their topic, instead they might find those questions stressful
publicly sharing your goals, flaws and challenges could be considered unusual
The tricky bit of all this is that following the platinum rule requires knowing more about the “others” in your life. It’s a lot harder, but it’s also a lot more effective. For it to work best, you need people who are willing to let you know how they want to be treated.
One obvious way to find out is to ask. Taking the time to get to know others and what works for them will increase your effectiveness as a leader.
On the flip-side, letting others know how you want to be treated will make things better for you. So, the next time you find someone treating you differently than your ideal, consider opening this dialogue. It’s possible that they are just following the golden rule, and have no idea they are getting it wrong.
And for all those people who have endured years of my tough questions… sorry about that!
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