Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Quote of the Day

A conversation with a colleague about accountability reminded me of the following quote this monring. I first heard it when I was teaching customer service at a previous job. It has always stuck with me because I believe it to be true, we do make our weather!

I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration; I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.

--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

No comments: