Lewis Cracknell

You’ve probably heard your parents say “treat others how you wish to be treated” and this wisdom was passed on for good reason.

But in this day and age, we can advance on this wisdom.

The platinum rule is, treat others how they wish to be treated.

Remember, you and them are likely to be different, very different.

An unassuming way of highlighting this in action is in the Sports analogy. A Sports team manager explains that for some players they ‘put an arm around’ to demonstrate signs of encouragement and giving them some love to help them improve. Whereas for other players, ‘they give them a rocket’ or ‘a kick up the back-side’ – this is considered player management, and essentially, is a demonstration of the platinum rule in action. It’s a cliche yet subtle.

Consider this next time you are thinking of ‘treating’ someone how you would like to be treated. Chances are, they don’t want, or won’t respond optimally to the way you would like to be treated – they have their own preferences and its your job to understand and uncover what they are.