Common Decency......Let's Keep it Alive!

Written by Terri Seymour


Common Decency....Let's Keep it Alive! © Terri Seymour

I recently had an experience with one ofrepparttar affiliate programs I *was* involved with. This experience did not surprise me, but did however, disappoint me. It is a sad fact that it did not surprise me and I thought maybe an article on this subject might bring it to our attention.

I did willingly join this program and acceptrepparttar 105428 terms of which I do understand. However, when customers of this online business owner would email me with complaints aboutrepparttar 105429 product andrepparttar 105430 fact thatrepparttar 105431 owner would not answer any emails, I definitely had to think twice about promoting this product and affiliate program.

So having decided this, I wroterepparttar 105432 owner and asked if he could send merepparttar 105433 small amount owed to me. I informed him I would not be promoting his product or program any longer and would like what was owed to me. His reasoning was, he would not pay me because I joinedrepparttar 105434 program willingly and he had a minimum amount.

This I had to accept while thinking, "Wouldn't common decency dictate payingrepparttar 105435 small amount he owed to a former affiliate?" The money itself does not change my life in anyway of course, butrepparttar 105436 human side of this really bothers me.

I will credit him with being polite and professional in his emails, and I also did not get upset, but thanked him forrepparttar 105437 learning experience. I also stated that I would in no way run my affiliate program in that way.

Common decency would prohibit me from doing so.

I realize we are running businesses and need to make money, but do we throw away courtesy, decency, respect and consideration to do so? I think not!

I know I am notrepparttar 105438 only person this has happened to, as a matter of fact, it has happened to me twice. The first time being a much bigger amount. The program owner just dropped out of business and left his affiliates hanging.

Build Confidence & Credibility: First-person Pronouns Get Your Messages Heard

Written by Tracy Peterson Turner, Ph.D.


Irritating speech habits destroy our professional credibility. Examples of irritating speech habits are sentences that end with dangling prepositions (Where did you hang your coat at?) and conversations peppered with “ums,” “uhs,” “like,” and other space-filler noises. We’ll be focusing here on another speech habit—one that sends a subtle message to listeners that it’s okay to abdicate responsibility.

How can a mere speech habit keep us from reflecting professionalism while causing us to abdicate responsibility? Let me demonstrate by example. In seminars I conduct aroundrepparttar country, I often ask a question of my clients: What physical manifestations do you personally experience when you find yourself in a tense situation? Generally,repparttar 105425 answer to this question is phrased inrepparttar 105426 following ways: “You get a tight throat.” “Your palms get sweaty.” “Your heart starts to race.”

Now, noticerepparttar 105427 answers and how they are phrased versusrepparttar 105428 wayrepparttar 105429 question was asked. Inrepparttar 105430 question I asked for what you personally experience. Butrepparttar 105431 people answering my question have shiftedrepparttar 105432 response away from being about themselves (thus, abdicating responsibility for their feelings) by choosing to userepparttar 105433 pronoun “you” in place of “I.” This shift of focus conveys a sense of shifting responsibility because it indicates a refusal to accept what they are experiencing. In this situation,repparttar 105434 respondents are essentially suggesting that they are speaking for me and what I experience in these situations rather than speaking for themselves.

In these situations, I realize thatrepparttar 105435 respondents are not intentionally or deliberately saying they are speaking for me. Butrepparttar 105436 subtle shift in pronoun usage shiftsrepparttar 105437 focus away from themselves and on to someone else. And any time we abdicate responsibility for something we are experiencing, we are damaging our professional credibility. We may unintentionally be implying to our listeners that we are refusing to accept responsibility for our actions and responses.

Yikes. You mean accepting or abdicating responsibility is that subtle? Yes, that subtle and that damaging to our credibility.

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