A Wise Man Once Said . . . Nothing
On the dangers of empty praise.
The social contract we all sign includes a prominent clause regarding agreeableness. We are rewarded socially for saying nice things. Someone looks tired? Tell them they look great anyway. Their pitch was mediocre? Say it was really good. We regard these as the most benign of white lies, the lubricants that keep daily life easy.
Is there a deeper harm in the small compliments you don’t really mean? That is ultimately a question for the ethicist or philosopher. But I can tell you what these false compliments do from a leadership perspective.
When Tim’s peer says “Great work!” after Tim phoned in his presentation, Tim takes the moment of satisfaction and moves on. Relatively harmless. But when Tim’s CEO says “Great work!” after the same phoned-in presentation, Tim’s whole perspective gets skewed. Tim takes it as a signal that he should repeat this behavior. He feels he has the CEO’s seal of approval. Maybe he now thinks he can judge by proxy the work of others. With a simple, tossed off c…
