R-E-S-P-E-C-T more than a song

I feel confident you will receive a separate definition from each person whom you ask to define respect. For more variety, ask them how they show it and how they expect other people to show respect to them.

Anyone expecting consistency in the definition and application of respect is going to be largely disappointed.

There should be a fairly uniform idea of what it looks and feels like, but it is as elusive as the Loch Ness Monster or Big Foot. Yes, there is a definition in the dictionary and in a multitude of books, but it remains an individual concept.

In business, you absolutely must understand the importance of this behavior and how it pertains to peers, employees, customers or anyone else you contact. Respect is one of those areas in business that totally overlaps with a personal life as well. If you have any disrespect within any of your relationships, you cannot have a positive, productive or happy situation. This usually means you don't have a relationship, but an arrangement of some type that allows you to conduct your interactions in a mostly civil manner.

I would like to say it is funny we should even have to talk about respect. It should be ingrained into our auto reflexes, but I guarantee you that it is totally lacking in some people all of the time and, in a lot of people, some of the time.

Whether intentional or not, the results are the same. Resistance to interaction is often accompanied by varying degrees of hostility.

Hopefully you are intentionally not showing disrespect to your employees, employers, peers or customers. If you are, it is time to get out of the current situation or correct the reason for the disrespect.

If you are on the receiving end of what you feel is disrespect, attempt to resolve the issue right away while it is fresh in everyone's mind. The important thing is to do it in a manner that is not fraught with anger, reciprocal disrespect or attacking in any form, especially physical.

Yes, it is almost as difficult as attempting to jump over the moon, even if you are the cow in the nursery rhyme.

Common sense dictates that we should all recognize how important respect is in regards to dealing with other people, regardless of their status in our lives. Unfortunately, there is a large number of people who have never learned the value of mutual respect and never will.

Too often, people demand respect versus earning it. The reality is that you can demand respect all you want, but you must actually earn it to receive it.

Some people mistake power and money as determinants for respect. Neither are truly deserving of respect unless the holders of these items are also upstanding people.

They do this by recognizing that it is a two-way street and show respect to other people as the fastest way to earn respect from others. That is when respect becomes a truly reciprocal action.

I believe that even if we do not like a person, we should still respect them if they earn it. I have worked for employers I did not care for on a personal level, but they were good bosses and treated people fairly across the board.

I will leave you with this thought, "If you treat others respectfully, you will be treated more respectfully."