Relationship Management
Relationship Management
There are three things that create the greatest and often deepest rift among people and between friends: money, politics and religion.
Differences, disagreements or misunderstanding in any of those areas are not an exception, but often inevitable in social intercourse.
Only very few wise people are able to effectively manage differences arising from any or all of those three areas and still retain quality relationships with people or their friends.
Never allow minor differences in those areas to make you cut off your relationship with people and see them as enemies. Remember that in every day life, the opposite of friendship is not enmity. People don’t have to be your friends, but they don’t have to be your enemies, either.
Learn to relate with people even though you might disagree with them in any of those three areas: money, politics, or religion.
Life is full of complexities arising from diversities – diversity of opinions, of values, of interests and of preferences.
Only those who are able to effectively manage these complexities in their personal life are truly qualified to be given the platform to lead in the public space.
We are not created to agree on every issue about life or about how things should be done. But we are created to live together in harmony. Living together in harmony does not imply absence of diversity of opinions. It does not mean absence of disagreements. It means learning and practicing the rare art of *Tolerance* .
Tolerance is the key to relationship Management. Tolerance flows from your personal admittance of the fact that you don’t know it all, you don’t have it all, and that you are not perfect. Tolerance is also an acceptance of your vulnerability as a human being. It means giving people room to see things differently and to believe differently than you.
Most of the problems we have in the home and in the society stem from intolerance.
And the thing is, “What you hate in others might be haunting you inside”.
(C) Joseph C. Ibekwe
Leadership Consultant
08/05/2022
