I preface this post by saying I have had leaders and superiors that I love to death and respect in many ways, they have influenced me in a positive light causing me to want to work hard and sacrifice for a larger team. Yet sadly this is not always the case, and that is what I choose to focus on right now. I am not speaking ignorantly either; I have been in the leadership position many times.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to talk with a great friend of mine from back home. To put simply, She Is Awesome, she’s incredibly smart, dedicated to success, and a very gifted artist, plus she can give tons of great advice about a variety of challenges you may be facing.
We talked about a lot of different of things, but spent a good deal of time discussing challenges she is facing in her current place of employment and also the challenges we have both seen due to our young ages in the “Working world.” She talked of disrespect shown to her, but then being told she was the one being disrespectful simply because she was willing to stand up and speak against things done by her superiors that are blatantly unacceptable and personally belittling. Luckily my friend is not the type of person to simply watch this happen. She is not some random punk kid striving to start discord, instead she is well versed in the rules regulations and laws that are being compromised. She may be young and no more than 5 foot two and 100 pounds, but she knows how to handle the situation. I would not want to be on her bad side as a superior.
I cannot blame many of us as a society who simply sit back and let the disrespect and ill-treatment continue. We are not in a position that allows us to put our employment on the line, we have bills and obligations that make that source of income vital, so we put up with it. I respect these people because they would rather be working then trying to find some way to manipulate the system into taking care of them.
I have faced similar situations and seen way too many of my peers and coworkers treated in an unacceptable manner, where a superior feels they can walk all over those who work under their leadership. I once had a new supervisor create their own personal standards and strive to impose them on me. Long story short I knew I was not in the wrong and frankly I was sick of this individual along with another manager treating us younger employees disrespectfully and like we were ignorant little peons, so I stood up to the situation. It culminated in a heated discussion where the store manager stood speechless, simply standing there looking back and forth between myself and the supervisor as we “talked,” another employee stood in the distance baffled at what was taking place. He told me that I was challenging his authority, well… I agreed, because as much as he wanted to believe it was authority he held, I had done my research, I knew I was safe and he was wrong. I do wish it would not have had to come to such an intense situation, and I’m sure many would tell me I should not have done that, but I was done watching my friends treated how they were.
We may be young, but our desire to achieve our greatest in not going to change. We are the youth and young adults that will change the world, that will lead the various avenues of life, entertainment, business, education, and politics in the near future. I know I speak for all when I give thanks to those who have helped us along our paths. In the complete reverse of what I have been talking about, I have already at my young age had points in my life where I was given more responsibility than I ever imagined I would have. I was the “Leader” and I know I was not perfect, I’m sure there were individuals I had stewardship over that did not appreciate me or felt I was doing something in a wrong manner. I appreciated the council I received on occasion that helped me see a situation in a different light or helped me understand better what was going to help us achieve our highest and best potential. I also know that as much as we may want to be everyone’s friend, when we have leadership responsibilities we have to make a choice, and as imperfect humans sometimes we make the wrong choice and we will get grief for it. I made sure to Never Ever think of myself as above anyone, we were a team, we had different responsibilities, but our goals were the same and honestly the people I have had stewardship over were all so much better than me, I guess I just needed those opportunities to help teach me lessons I had to learn. I’ve loved every second of it, these responsibilities have taught me more than I can describe, and they have shaped my character. These opportunities have refined me beyond anyone trying to walk all over me and telling me that maybe someday I will be the boss.
My intention is not to try and convince the younger generation to be rebellious and oppose anyone who is above us. We can learn a lot from observing the leaders we respect and seeing how they interact with others and do business. However we do not have to simply accept disregard and disrespect when it is shown to us. We have value and worth, and we can make a difference.
We may be young, but do not think for a second that means you can walk over us.
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