Respect is universal

Have you ever come across senior people in the work place complaining that young people today do not know respect?

I have traveled to many parts of the world, and the observation is the same. You usually hear them say, “Young people need to show more respect. And maybe they would…if they would learn how to respect themselves first.”

I beg to differ though. Not all young people are rude and brash. As a matter of fact, many of them are very respectful. I mingle with them, I train them, I know that a lot of them are achievers and they sure know how to act and behave professionally.

The “respect” happens when the elderlies fail to understand the way the young think, and equally, when young people fail to understand the values and mentality of the elderlies.

Nevertheless, this is addressed and fixed as company executives, both young and old, in their testimonials would say that the leadership training that was conducted has helped resolve issues that affected their business progress negatively and helped bridge the generation gap as well.

People respect themselves when they are capable of achieving things, become good at something and are in a position to contribute things.

When long term managers are caught in a deadbeat job, bored to death with the things they do, fail to learn new things and are constantly threatened by the change in technology and the business landscape, they compensate by bullying junior people and creating issues just so they feel superior.

Those who are bullied would only take as much as they could, then would retaliate and make things harder.

All these sideways energies could be prevented by proper leadership training and values orientation.

Respect is actually universal. Only when people respect themselves are they able to respect anyone else. They might even respect their elders…but only if they deserve it.

For a lot of leaders, respect is elusive, comes with the title and is also accorded to them. Their jokes are funny, the economy and politics are wise, their insights and opinions on the world are profound, and everybody seems to admire them.

Hence, they equate respect to positions. This feeds into their ego and they think they are being respected, when the truth is that they are just being manipulated.

As a leader, it is easy to believe what people say to their faces, but behind their backs, the very people sucking up to them are making more even-handed appraisal of their performance, jokes, ideas and tastes and make fun of their leaders as a way of retaliation.

Titles and positions give a leader superficial respect, but real respect has to be earned. True respect comes when people sense that a leader is humble, compassionate, competent, and a consummate professional.

Young people earn the respect of their leaders when they put their attitude and pride in check, show courtesy, work hard, and exhibit the drive to improve and to achieve goals.

Respect becomes universal when both the senior leaders and young people are willing to work hard not for their own vested interest, but in aiding the business organization grow both in size and profitability knowing that the result will bring benefits to everyone involved.

Perhaps not all of their decisions are or will be popular, but their honest intentions will never be suspected, and thus, respect is gained.

Here is the key: respect is truly universal. However old or young you are, respect has to be earned.

Leadership is neither a title nor an entitlement. It’s also not a right, but rather, a responsibility, and “respect for” and “respect from” are at its very core.

(Connect with Francis Kong in www.facebook.com/franciskong2, or listen to “Business Matters” Monday to Friday 8 a.m. And 6:30 p.m. over 98.7 dzFE-FM The Master’s Touch, the classical music station.)