It’s None of Your Business What Other People Think Of You

Written By Jove Stickel

As a leader you will be under tremendous scrutiny for the decisions you make.  Those decisions are bound to make some people upset and at times very angry.  People will talk bad about you and other people will love to tell you about it regardless of whether you ask them to or not.  How people feel about you shouldn’t change how you treat them.  As a leader it is important to always maintain a professional demeanor and approach towards others.  You, more than anyone, have to be a partner with everyone and you can’t afford to let your emotions about how people feel about you cloud your judgement.  Elenor Roosevelt is credited with the phrase “What other people think of me is none of my business.”  She was 100% correct in what she was saying.  

I know as a human being not just a leader that I want to be liked it is a natural feeling.  I mean who doesn’t want people to like them?  I also know that I spent a lot of time in my life worrying and obsessing about what others thought of me and that made me a less happy person and leader.  When I’m focused on what others think about my decisions it can lead to errors in my own judgement and it can even compromise my own character and integrity.  The more high profile your leadership position the more opinions people will have about you.  Let me be clear I’m not talking about feedback here I’m talking about people just saying hateful, nasty or unkind things about you.  

This all goes back to putting your energy into the things that are positive. If people choose to be hateful or mean it’s  their problem and it doesn’t serve me.  They’re free to feel the way they want but I don’t have to make it my problem or allow it to distract me from my mission.  

Call To Action

Resist the urge to try to convince others to feel differently about you.  They have their own opinion and that is ok.  Remind yourself that you have opinions about people that are not flattering as well so it is a natural part of life.  If I find myself bothered by the opinions of others I generally take a minute to journal about it and my rule is once I close the journal the issue is over.  The other big call to action here is to stop asking people what others have said about you and to stop people who try to gossip with you about what others are saying about you.  Taking those simple steps will free you from a lot of stress, anger and bitterness.   


Jove Stickel

Jove is a retired educator of 28, serving as a classroom educator, coach and building principal. During Jove’s journey in education worked very hard to become a servant leader, but found in his pursuit to do so that he wasn’t leading himself. Eventually Jove found himself 46 years old weighing nearly 600 pounds and in desperate need to turn his life around. His journey is an inspirational story about becoming committed and making an impactful change. Jove is available for speaking engagements and leadership coaching opportunities including group and one on one sessions.

https://jovestickel.com
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Resilience Over Resistance