Recreational Whinge:  I’m a big fan of the website, The Onion, and recently they came out with this very funny article:  “Group of popular girls reduces nation to tears”.

As funny as I found the article, it also immediately reminded me of a whole bunch of both personal and professional examples of people behaving badly without consideration for the feelings of others.

One of the worst things about this trend from a very personal perspective is that I find it very difficult to watch certain television shows where the protagonist is a jerk and demonstrating some of the same behaviours I hear my coaching clients talk about (that either they’re doing or they observe others doing).

I know it’s all about character development, but sometimes I just like to switch off from my career a little bit and watching people behave badly on the screen just gets to me.  So I end up watching some silly or potentially mind-numbing other shows.  (This is a secondary whinge about what’s available on TV these days!)

Anyway, back to my primary whinge about people behaving badly…

There have been numerous times where I’ve been speaking with someone about their own bad behaviour and when I ask them if they understand the impact it has on the other person, they sometimes tell me that they don’t care.

YIKES!  They don’t care?  What’s that about? 

Well, it’s quite likely actually about how they feel about themselves and they just haven’t figured it out yet.  Meanwhile, everyone else has to suffer.  Totally NOT COOL!

The Positive Spin:  Fortunately, many of the people I referred to above have been willing after some time, coaching, awareness-shifting, been willing to consider the impact of their behaviours on others. 

Some have had a “lightbulb” moment about what they’re really doing and why they’re really doing it.

There have been some great turnarounds in behaviour and I’m very grateful to have played a part in that.

Now, how do I get my hands on the rest of the world’s badly behaving people?