Laurel van der Toorn

Well, suddenly you're trying to figure out, I'm getting fired.

So putting yourselves in their shoes is probably the best thing we can do here.

I don't have the view I'm about to say because I'm a strong believer in the principle of treating others the way you'd like to be treated.

But there might be people out there reading this and thinking employees are just too sensitive these days.

Just suck it up.

What would you say to someone with an opinion like that?

Well, why?

Why should they?

I mean, what are you gaining from asking employees to just suck it up?

The fact that you don't have to speak to them in the morning because that's a big time saver and that's a big productivity improver.

It's not right.

So

These are things that Aristotle was describing, we would call it, as questions of manners, really, right?

So, you know, I want to be intemperate and ill-mannered as a boss.

Why?

So you could say, well, employees should forget that.

That's true.

But as a boss, you should forget it too, right?

Well, Peter Capelli is a professor of management at the University of Pennsylvania.

Peter, both thank you for being here and happy belated birthday.