When it comes to the business world, people can range from pleasant to cutthroat. One of the most important lessons entrepreneurs need to learn is that personal feelings come in second place.
Separating personal and professional can be as challenging as it is necessary. An expert in digital marketing and branding, Suhit Amin understands this balancing act very well.
A company’s reputation has a lot to do with whether it is successful. You might see the CEO as a very cold, tough human being. Yet if this person is running the company smoothly and customers are happy with the product or service, they have achieved their business goals and proven they are good at their job. In this case, consumers must decide if that product or service is worth more to them than their opinion of a person they don’t even know.
A large majority of the time, people decide their perspective of an individual will not affect their purchases. While it doesn’t give business higher-ups free reign to be terrible people, it is one of the contributing factors as to why they do not care what others think. This is an important lesson all entrepreneurs need to learn: stop worrying what other people think.
By all means, you want a strong professional relationship with your team and customers, but the key word is professional. You are part of an organisation to perform a job, not be people’s friend. When you are making a major decision for your company and being courted by multiple sales representatives, you must look past the person and make a decision based on what is being sold. The sales rep might be one of the least pleasant individuals you have ever come across, but if their option is the best one for your business, then so be it.
When it comes to interacting with your staff and customers, the objective is to be firm, fair, and uphold your company’s mission. Even if you are not liked personally, you must strive to be respected professionally. This is an especially difficult lesson for caring, friendly, and empathetic people, but being a nice boss doesn’t necessarily mean you will be able to make payroll that month. Sometimes you have to be the bad guy, but this does not make you a bad person.