ProdPod: Episode 67 — Diamond Rule – Do Unto Others as They Would Like Done Unto Themselves

I frequently throughout my youth heard about the Golden Rule. This universal dictum that said to do unto others as you would have done unto you. Of course, this adage, also known as the “ethic of reciprocity” dates back to the Ancient Babylonians and likely even before that. Over the years, I’ve found the Golden Rule (and it’s sister, the Silver Rule) to be missing an element, perhaps lacking empathy. So, I’ve come up with what I’ve coined the Diamond Rule: do unto others as they would like done unto themselves.

You see, in this day and age, it doesn’t make sense to try and be so “me me me” about how to treat others. We can learn so much about others so quickly today. There’s Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and, *gasp* asking the person how they’d like to actually be treated.

One example of how I apply the Diamond Rule is by tracking how people with whom I interact actually want to be communicated. Want to know how I know? I ask them!

It turns out that people appreciate not only being asked how best it is to communicate with them, but additionally when and how to best communicate certain types of information. For example, while I tend to write long email correspondence, I know that I best receive email messages in single-topic, bite-sized ones. If more people wanted to get responses from me, they would email me one email per topic. They’d make it easy for me to give a decision back to them with their question right at the beginning of the email. This way, I can be pondering what they want from me as I read through the supporting points in the email.

How do you best like to be communicated, and when, and in what format? How can you be a better communicator by making it a practice to ask others? Where else can you apply the Diamond Rule?