How to deal with jerks in the workplace (with Christine Porath)
How to Be a Better Human
TED
4.1 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 12 July 2021
⏱️ 27 minutes
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Summary
Have you ever had a rude co-worker or boss — or have you ever been told that the “jerk” is you? Today’s guest, Christine Porath, researches incivility in the workplace. She’s found that if you want to have a thriving business full of happy and talented employees, there is no room for any kind of disrespect. In this episode, she shares insights from her research and suggests ways anyone—bosses, managers, and employees alike—can up the civility at work. Christine teaches at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business and is the author of “Mastering Civility: A Manifesto for the Workplace” and co-author of “The Cost of Bad Behavior: How Incivility is Damaging Your Business and What to Do About It”. She has written for the Harvard Business Review, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, McKinsey Quarterly and the Washington Post. Her new book, “Mastering Community” is forthcoming (Grand Central Publishing, 2022). To learn more about "How to Be a Better Human," host Chris Duffy, or find footnotes and additional resources, please visit: go.ted.com/betterhuman
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ted Audio Collective. |
| 0:02.0 | Audio Collective. |
| 0:04.0 | You're listening to How to Be a Better Human. |
| 0:08.0 | I'm your host Chris Duffy. |
| 0:12.0 | Today on the show we are talking about |
| 0:14.0 | civility and incivility, how you treat other people and how you get treated. It is a |
| 0:19.2 | conversation about behavior that takes place everywhere from boardrooms to kindergarten classrooms, |
| 0:24.0 | and it's one that, to be honest, the kindergartners are kind of better at, I think. |
| 0:29.0 | Kindergarteners, they know the rules, right? |
| 0:31.0 | Don't be mean. Share, clean up after yourself. And those are |
| 0:35.2 | rules that a lot of us as adults, we kind of need a refresher on. So on today's |
| 0:40.9 | episode, I am grabbing my snacks. |
| 0:42.9 | I am waking up from my nap. |
| 0:44.8 | And I am having a conversation with Christine Porath, |
| 0:47.4 | a professor who writes about incivility at work. |
| 0:50.4 | Here's a clip from Christine's TEDex talk. |
| 0:53.0 | Who do you want to be? |
| 0:55.0 | It's a simple question and whether you know it or not, |
| 0:59.0 | you're answering it every day through your actions. This one question will define your |
| 1:06.2 | professional success more than any other because how you show up and treat people |
| 1:12.0 | means everything. |
| 1:14.0 | Either you lift people up by respecting them, |
... |
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