Weekly Nugget: Take a Stand, Call Out Bullshit

Hi friend,

My late friend and mentor, Dr. James McManis, used to say, “If you're not pissing people off, then you're not doing your job; nice people stink up the world." I think he was right on the money.

If you are a transformational leader, manager, entrepreneur, or mobilizer working at any level of the enterprise, from the CEO to the front desk receptionist, YOU ARE SUPPOSED to be pissing someone off.

How so? Well, when you begin to care about your shared future with others and point out the salient bullshit (in any environment), you are bound to piss people off.

Harvard philosopher Harry Frankfurt points out in his book, “On Bullshit,” that we are immersed in so much of it that it begins to pass itself as common sense. And we accept it.

What is ‘bullshit’? It is not just about lying. It is about saying whatever needs to be said, truth or lie, to have it your way. It is about lacking care for others with a commitment to looking good and having your small personal agenda that must win at all costs.

This habitual way of being without concern for others is what we are calling out as bullshit. Bullshit creates a waste of capital and potential and produces unworkability among teams. Calling this out could make some people upset with you.

And that's okay because NOT EVERYONE HAS TO LIKE YOU!

As a transformational leader, your job is not to be liked. Your job is to take a stand, be bold and courageous, and call out what everyone else is too afraid to call out. Your job is to open conversations about the standards that should matter to you as a group. Your job is to remind people what is at stake, what’s at risk if people don’t stop bullshitting each other.

Many of us are comfortable doing this with our family members but are somehow not so good when it comes to our workplaces.

Become comfortable with making enemies if you’re doing something worthy. Now that doesn't mean that you should go around pissing everyone off just for the sake of it. No! Be kind, don't be mean and nasty, but be direct and bold. Have courage! Lots of it!

Don't be afraid to take on hidden nastiness masquerading as common sense and niceness. Be someone who is willing to die for what they stand for.

A short but poignant poem comes to mind written by the Scottish poet and journalist Charles Mackay:

“You have no enemies, you say?

Alas, my friend, the boast is poor.

He who has mingled in the fray of duty that the brave endure, must have made foes.

If you have none, small is the work that you have done.

You’ve hit no traitor on the hip.

You’ve dashed no cup from perjured lip.

You’ve never turned the wrong to right.

You’ve been a coward in the fight.”

With care,

Saqib