Noah Katz

I will speak ill will of no one and speak all the good I know of everyone. Benjamin Franklin

This is one of my favorite quotes by Benjamin Franklin. Here is my take.

Be VERY CAUTIOUS of someone that speaks poorly of other people or other companies. It serves no purpose other than to diminish others.

I recently had a business presentation by a company that spent a portion of their time bad mouthing their competitor. I just listened. When the person kept doing this, I gently alerted them to the fact that speaking poorly of another company will not benefit them with me; the only way they would persuade me was to demonstrate how their business could create value for us. My late brother Daniel felt exactly the same way. He was always suspicious of people that spoke poorly of others. He called it non productive.

Let’s talk about Gossip. Gossip is even worse than talking badly about others. Gossip is the lowest form of language that exists. Here’s the definition of gossip; “Casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about OTHER PEOPLE (not present to defend themselves), usually containing unconfirmed information, that serves to DIMINISH the people being discussed, most of which is usually not true.

I always think to myself, when someone is doing this around me, I wonder if they are saying bad or untrue things about me to other people when I’m not around?

We all need to catch ourselves when we become involved in conversations that involve gossip or people speaking poorly of others. People that engage in this could and should be disqualified from continuing a relationship with you. You need to make that call. For me, I typically, gently, ask people to stop doing it so that we can get back to more productive conversations that make a difference.