Thursday, May 15, 1997

Restraint can protect your business and improve your reputation

By ANN CHADWELL HUMPHRIES / Knight-Ridder Newspapers

Restraint can protect your business and improve your reputation.

Recently, I witnessed a sales representative handle a customer's temper tantrum with admirable aplomb. I watched a parent calmly handle a child who had done something he wasn't supposed to. I heard a story from an employee who was maintaining restraint to allow a situation to correct itself. She could have released her arsenal of resources and buried the person causing the problem, but she practiced restraint.

Restraint is an important skill to cultivate. When you master it, you have more control over situations and yourself so that you can function effectively.

Sgt. Sendy Taylor, an administrative NCO in the South Carolina Army National Guard, said: "Restraint is an extension of self-control. Restraint prevents you from saying what's really on your mind before you cool down. A lack of restraint can be irresponsible."

Sure, there are brilliant business moves that transcend our past limitations, and some rules, barriers and customs definitely need to be broken. On occasion, we even plan not to plan to allow for spontaneity and serendipity.

But Rosa Parks didn't act alone. She was part of a strategic plan with many others involved and a system in place to withstand the consequences of the dramatic action she took.

When others exhort you to break the rules or ignore conventions, I recommend caution.

When people boast that they don't recognize boundaries, I'm immediately on guard. Will they start spitting, scratching, or practicing gross personal habits that should only be done in private? Will they lie, cheat, yell, and insult people to advance their positions?

Develop your capacity for restraint.