My friend shared with me a great story about a past employee of his company. For the purpose of this story I am going to give the people involved fake names. Let's call my friend "Troy" and his employee "George."
For years Troy had gotten periodic complaints about how George treated people within the company. People said that George was arrogant and was solely concerned for himself. But what Troy saw was a guy that said he was concerned with others and always treated Troy and the other partners in the firm with the highest respect.
As the incidents of people coming to Troy and complaining about George grew. Troy discussed the issues with his partners and fellow owners. And after that discussion Troy felt like he needed to address the issues with George.
When Troy went to George and mentioned the complaints, George said that "of course he treated Troy and the other owners differently. It was only natural. Troy and his partners were the owners of the company." Troy said George's face showed that he was confused that it was even a problem.
Troy asked George why he treated others the way he did, George said "are you implying that you think I should treat everybody within the company the same way I treat you and the other owners?"
Troy said "yes I do. You should treat everybody like they are an owner!"
George could believe it. As a matter of fact George couldn't live out the advice either. Shortly after being confronted by Troy, George had to leave the company. He had been exposed and with that everybody within the company, including the owners, know that George wasn't part of the team. In fact George's behavior had been tearing done the team for years.
Fakes aren't always easy to see but listening to my friend's story sure did open my eyes and perk my ear quite a bit.
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