“Politeness and consideration for others is like investing pennies and getting dollars back.”
— Thomas Sowell, Columnist
ROAD SIGN 18
Traffic Fines Doubled in Work Zone
The Business of Etiquette:
A Tool for Competitive Advantage
Janice: I don’t think people understand how important etiquette
is in business.
Bill: Time after time, I’ve seen really talented people get known for
their lack of etiquette instead of for their talents.
Janice: I see the smartest candidates asking the dumbest questions.
They seem suited in every way for a position, and then they do
or say something totally inappropriate.
Bill: It happens on the job as well, and it is a shame to see people
fail, not because their job performance is inadequate, but because
they don’t show basic courtesy. They become self-centered, arro-
gant, and downright rude!
Janice: In fact, basic courtesy is getting harder and harder to find
in the business world, so those who do have it will stand out
even more.
COURTESY COUNTS
Bill well remembers—though he wishes he could forget—the time he took a couple of top staffers on a business call to a prospect in Chicago. They were graciously ushered into the chairman’s private dining room, where the chief sales VP on Bill’s staff proceeded to spear the meat with his knife, dribble the juice on the tablecloth, and talk with his mouth full. What Bill remembers all too well was the chairman’s stare, aimed directly at Bill as if to say, “You have a dog like this working in your organization, and you want my business?”
Although Bill fired the sales VP shortly thereafter, it took a long, long time before he got the chance to even go back and make his pitch to the Chicago prospect, much less gain his business.
Courtesy can make or break a career. We’ve seen it do both. We’ve seen people with everything going for them suddenly pull something like Bill’s sales VP did—or wear an absolutely inappropriate dress to the client dinner—or scream at underlings for all to hear—or get in the elevator, where there’s a captive audience, and talk about people and details that are not appropriate to the benign banter that qualifies as “elevator speak.”
We’ve also seen people, often of only middling talent, rise high in the corporation because they always remembered to say please and thank you. Granted, that alone was not the cause of their rise, but when promotion time came around, they were the people who always came to mind, and their civility certainly helped smooth their upward climbs.
Manners are essential in any organization—whether the organization is a family of four or a corporation of four thousand. Manners separate us from animals; they’re what allow civilization to flourish. Without common courtesy, life is a free-for-all. In business, that can be particularly dangerous. Imagine a business without discipline or structure; that’s a business in serious trouble.