I once wrote a post…
It’s been a couple years now, but it taught me a lasting lesson…
I wrote about a situation I was dealing with at the time…
It was a general post…
The post addressed a leadership principle involving a disagreement I had with someone…
A leadership issue…I write about leadership issues…
I thought I was right…he thought he was…
I still agree with my position…he still agrees with his…
It was not a staff member…and I didn’t mention the person…
It would have been hard to tell who I was talking about….except to him…
And he knew…
He called me on it…
(Honestly I didn’t know he read my blog…)
He didn’t think I should use my blog to address our disagreement…
I was using the power of a platform to address a personal issue…
He was right…I was wrong…(Not about the leadership position,
but about using a post to address it during the disagreement)
I apologized…and immediately took the post down…
He accepted my apology and we are great friends today…
I love that kind of relationship and proud of both of us for responding as we did…
It changed, however, how and when I blog about an issue…
The criteria I use now before posting on a real-life situation…
- I never post in anger…
- I sleep on it at least a night before posting…
I ask:
- Why am I posting this?
- Would I still post this if the person knew it’s about them?
- Is this post helpful?
- Is my version of the situation true for both sides of the disagreement?
Have you ever posted in anger? Has anyone ever called you on a post?
