‘Social’ Intelligence: Watch Your Mouth

Since I don’t really have any time to fritter away at this present moment due to the fact that it is ultra rainy and horrible outside and I am hoping to go out for a walk (//insert// sarcasm //insert//), I shall begin today’s article in a rather familiar to you manner: with an example.

It all happened about three weeks ago. I was coming back from the gym and was on my way to meet up with some friends for a quick catch- up over a cup of coffee.

As it was raining (surprise, surprise, sugar and ice...) outside, we all went indoors and, having exchanged the usual pleasantries, went on to discussing random everyday stuff.

There was, however, a newcomer among us; you might say that he was a friend of a friend of a friend.

We shook hands and politely introduced ourselves to one another, at which point he sat down and started playing games on his smart phone (which was, I thought, the MOST sociable thing to do under the circumstances).

I was discussing my work- out with a friend when the abovementioned chap, leaving his smart phone alone for a second, said out loud:

‘Only people with issues work out!’

Then he resumed playing his game as though nothing had happened.

The conversation went onto another subject area- law. I was telling my friends about a dear friend of mine who has dealt with and acted for Madonna and the likes, helping them out with various IP matters, injunctions, etc.

The same guy then looked up and said, out loud:

‘Hm, I have always been of the opinion that IP law is not a particularly intellectually- stimulating area of law...’

At that point, as you might imagine, I asked who the Hell he was and what did he do for a living.

I shan’t delve into any detail; suffice to say that he worked for a bank and had never studied or done anything law- related in his life.

We soon parted and went to a house party the following evening where a friend of mine said that the same person said (behind my back, of course, and rather ‘jokingly’, naturally) that  I was a person who did a lot of random things and did not have a goal in life.

Even I would not have perceived the above as a joke; especially when was coming from a person that I had met only recently.

Ergo, thank God he had said it behind my back.

In the light of the above, I should like to urge you to be incredibly careful about what, where and to whom you are saying things that might be highly deleterious to your future well- being.

To begin with, from a purely logical point of view, regardless of how horrible a day you have had, the examples above can, under NO circumstances, be deemed as ‘acceptable’ or ‘commonplace’.

Firstly, if you are amongst people that you do not know and have never seen before, it might be a good idea to leave a good first impression; offending people at random is, then, most definitely not the right way to go.

Secondly, and quite logically so, it makes NO sense to badmouth people you have never met (ESPECIALLY those who have previously worked with celebrities) because, again from a purely logical point of view, you might need their services, albeit in the very distant future.

Thirdly, by misbehaving and offending people, be in on purpose or unintentionally, you lead people to believe that you are a very negative person who will project his bad mood on everyone in the room so that he is not the only one to feel horrible. No-  one likes such people; NO -ONE.

Fourthly, and most importantly, if you want to be successful in ANY career, you need to do some proper NETWORKING. Word of mouth travels at the speed of light; if you do not watch what you are saying, you might soon find that those around you are not that interested in conversing with you as they have ‘heard about’ your recent behaviour.

So, pray, be logical and smart about it; do watch your mouth.

Measure twice, cut once.

Think before you act speak.

That sort of thing.