People Matter | It Really Does Take All Kinds –We’re All Important

By Jennifer Tidwell, Assistant to the President

Have you ever sat on a park or mall bench and took time out to watch people for a little while? 
If you’re like me, it doesn’t take very long until you’re shaking your head and thinking (or, if you’re really like me, you might even be saying it out loud to yourself!) “It takes all kinds. “

But aren’t we glad it does?  How boring would life be if we were all the same! 

If you work in an office, you will probably agree that the office is much like sitting on a bench when it comes to viewing our co-workers – and it does take all kinds.  My office is located in such a spot that I often feel like I am sitting on one of those benches.  It’s right up front where I can see everyone -
co-workers as well as the general public.  My office also has a couple of chairs in it that seem to be the perfect spot for my co-workers to drop by, sit for a brief moment with me and reflect together.  Which I think is great and enjoy.

There are all types of personalities running around the office world.  Let’s face it, some days it doesn’t matter what type of personality one may have, we simply get up on the wrong side of the bed! 
And frankly, it seems to me there are those “sandpaper people” who, I think, are put in our lives simply to smooth out the rough edges in us.  (It never fails that those people always show up beside you at the coffee pot on a Monday morning … seriously!)  But, no matter what type of person you are dealing with or how your personality may or may not clash with another, I’ve learned that people matter.  

If we want to go anywhere within our companies, or even in life for that matter, we have to interact with people one way or another.   I have heard it said many times, “The best thing about my job is the people and the worst thing about my job is the people.”  Why is that?  It’s simply because people are people.  Everyone has a bad day now and then and everyone deserves a break now and then. 

With the location of my desk and the role that I have in at the Chamber, I get to enjoy the opportunity to speak with a lot of different people, whether it’s a co-worker who has something going on in their daily life, a member that I see in a meeting or a visitor who has walked in off the street.  What I have found is that most people just want someone to listen to them and usually not even for a very long period of time.   It’s the simple act of caring.  One of the biggest lessons I have learned over the years in dealing with people is this simple statement, “Everyone wants to feel important.”   If we can go to work every day with the goal of making others feel important, our own lives would be fuller and that can only boost our overall quality of life.  Making others feel better simply makes us feel better. 

Keep in mind the Golden Rule, “Treat others the way you want to be treated.”  I don’t know what happened to that concept, but it seems to me that somewhere along the way it got lost in all of us trying to just get through the day-to-day duties and challenges of our work week.  So, if you’re on the bottom trying to climb your way to the top, or if you’re on the top and striving to stay there, just remember one thing on the trip - people matter.