If you are in business I’m certain this has happened to you…
An appointment was hastily made a few hours ago with someone who REALLY needs to meet with you right away. However, that person either never shows up or arrives 30 minutes late.
Of course, when you finally hear from them, they casually wave off their tardiness, or complete absence, as just being part of doing business.
WRONG!!! WRONG !!! WRONG!!!
Not All Right!
Why do so many people feel being late to a business meeting is just part of today’s society everyone needs to tolerate? I really is not “All Right”.
In a recent article posted by the BBC.com , Why Some People Are Always Running Late, Linda Clarke outlined the reasons for many people being late is not out of rudeness but out of uncertainty in themselves. ??? Not sure I buy into that totally, but will admit there are some times an unscheduled or unannounced absence or tardiness is tolerable…but not acceptable. Sure, there are exceptions, but fortunately there are smartphones that can be used to keep a business person’s professionalism intact.
The number of people I..and I’m sure you…have dealt with from time to time, who just write off being late as just being who they are, are part of the growing crowd of people that has grown over the past 20 years to possibly be in the millions.
What happened or what caused these people to feel the business world is “All about them”?
Root Causes
The ‘All About Me’ culture has been around for hundreds of years which, in part, is one of the root causes of the attitude many business leaders have adapted to be their personality. In a pair of articles posted in 2014 by LifePointer.com , It’s All About Me, Me, Me (does our culture encourage narcissism?) Part 1 and Part 2, Sandra Akuoma did an awesome job outlining what probably is the root cause of many of the people who tend to not take Time Management seriously.
The results of Helicopter Parenting is starting to show up in today’s millennial business leadership causing devastating results to the companies who employee them.
Granted, everyone should have a little “All About Me” in them. In order to get anything done, a business person should never ignore their personal and professional needs. However, nowhere have I found, outside of some clinical briefs, where being late, or not showing up, for a meeting is medically or even cultural “All Right”.
Moving On
I’ve touched on this problem of Business Rudeness before in my post on Why People Do Not Return Phone Calls. The people who run late or do not show up to an appointment runs in the same crowd as the Never Return a Phone Call crowd. Most all of them have lack of understanding of what damage they cause to their professional reputation. Many I have found don’t care.
Understanding why people feel their time is more important than others is what many business people, like me, who do understand the impact of less than perfect professional image can have on a business, hope to find ways to cure it. Until then, we just move on to the next person calling to set up a meeting and hope they are more “About Us!”.
Let me know how I can help.
