12 Ways to Treat People Like People

Margaret was one of the first people I hired for my business. She had recently retired from a big company and was looking for some part-time work.

Her skills, personality, and the part-time work part all fit what I was looking for. We had pleasant interviews. I offered her the job I had.

She said she’d take it.What happened next is something I remember almost 40 years later. I asked her what she expected from me. She said, “Just treat me like a person.”

She told me for 30 years she’d been treated like “a typing machine, or a scheduling machine, or a filing machine.

But she wasn’t treated like a person. That’s the most important thing you can do if you’re responsible for the performance of a group.