Zip Your Lips

Zip Your Lips In the hustle and bustle of business, we all have had our frustrations, irritations and challenges with colleagues, bosses, and clients. However, no matter how stressed one may get, it behooves you to “bite your tongue.” Evidence the abrupt canning of Joseph Lacher, who 20 months ago joined Allstate Insurance to run one of its largest business units. His faux pas was to trash the chairman/CEO with an “expletive deleted” over drinks during a conference with a gathering of Allstate’s top Insurance Agents. His indiscretion spread like wildfire around the conference, and not long after his return to headquarters he was summarily fired and handed his walking papers. This sounds like an extreme case, but it is representative of a larger challenge facing every professional. Failure to walk the party line, coupled with unkind or compromising chatter inside or outside of the company, is not only bad form, but a loaded gun that can derail a career. Our best advice is to zip your lips and constructively address the issue. Or alternatively, if it is a matter of sufficient importance, you can always resign and leave the matter behind.