Leading with GRIT: Inspiring Action and Accountability with Generosity, Respect, Integrity, and Truth

Chapter 4Respect—It's a Two-Way Street

The respect you show to others (or lack thereof) is an immediate reflection on your self respect.

—Alex Elle

If I have to sit through another one of these meetings, I think I'll explode. Why can't they just run an effective meeting? It's not that hard! Have an agenda, start on time, end on time. Don't get off task. Keep a parking lot for topics that come up that need to be addressed later. And I'm so sick of people not speaking up and then as soon as we leave, the whispers, the complaining. Come on, people! That's why I just couldn't stand it when I could tell that Betty wanted to say something in the meeting, but she refused. It was obvious by her facial expressions. Why couldn't anyone else see this? And now she's mad at me for calling it out. I mean really, I only said, “I think Betty wants to say something.” And for her to respond with “No, really, I don't” in such a sarcastic way! With our being the only two women in the room, I just thought she needed to voice her opinion. The icing on the cake was her scolding me afterwards to not ever do that to her again!

Respect is a word we've heard a lot, from our parents telling us to respect our elders to Aretha Franklin belting out each letter, soulfully demanding respect. Respect is about having admiration for someone; it's about accepting what is without attempting to change it; it's caring about a thing or a person, having consideration, objectively looking at a person or situation; it's ...