Sunday, February 18, 2007

Dump the Golden Rule: " Treat people the way you want to be treated"

Well these famous words may actually do more harm than good and hence the statement dump it!!! But why! The genesis of this statement is that two humans are alike and the human community is one homogeneous whole. But this is far from truth. Every individual is unique and has different thinking style, preferences and values. If that is the case, how can I assume what is right for me , correct in my style of thinking, precious in my value system is good for my peers and recognizable by my bosses and considerate for my subordinates ( don't have any :)). I just believe we need to recognize the cognitive differences and appreciate the heterogeneity of the people around us and treat them the way they would recognize, appreciate and acknowledge!!! What do you think ?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you are confused. the goldern rule is about treat others the way you want others to treat you. This rule is not about homogeneity or hetrogeneity, it more related to the reactivenes of human beings.Infact more refined form of this rule should be "don't expect someone to treat you any better than you treat them".

Unknown said...

I do agree with both chain of thoughts:
for eg:
i. If you treat people badly,
expect to be treated the same
way by others.
ii.The other thought is, some
people, for eg. are very
straight forward and some are
not. Hence, if you know what
kind of person he/she is, you
may want to deal accordingly.