If you’ve been alive for more than five minutes, you know Merle’s gonna say something that’ll raise a few eyebrows. Seems like it’s every day with that one. He’s constantly stepping in it.

 

I don’t have much sympathy for him, though. It’s his own fault, really. Now, before we judge Merle, lest we be judged ourselves.  All of us, each and every one of us, has said something we wished we hadn’t. I’ve probably said something today, that’ll have raised an eyebrow…maybe!

 

We’re all going to step in it. The question before us is why? Why does this happen? I find in most cases it comes from speaking quickly, off the cuff. We get excited about talking to someone. We feel a sense of comfort with them. In turn we let our guard down. Once we feel comfortable, we can easily make a mistake and misspeak. Then problems ensue. We forgot who our audience was. We lost the goal of the conversation.

 

We are going to misspeak. That’s a fact. Once we accept that, we can prepare for the inevitable. It’s going to happen, but it doesn’t have to be a disaster. You can control the situation. We need to choose what we say wisely. As a business we need to keep it professional and focused. We need to be aware of who we’re talking to and why.

 

The problem is more nuanced than I’m presenting it here. That’s why this week, all week, we’re discussing misunderstanding and misspeaking. It’s something we’ve all experienced and it’s a real challenge and potential impediment to growing your business.

 

It doesn’t have to be….