What it means to work with us, not for us

Studies say that one of the most difficult problems of executives in business organizations relates to people management. However, it can also be said that one does not need to resort to surveys and studies to realize that people management is indeed difficult if not the most difficult issue to handle.

We can look back to our childhoods and try to remember what caused stressful experiences in our lives. Even before we first enter the workplace, we surely have already shed a lot of tears after dealing with other people — be it because of parents who scolded us, siblings who always took away our toys, friends who gossiped behind our backs, special friends who broke up with us, and a lot more. It is a given that dealing with other people is challenging simply because we are different from one another. Unlike machineries in factories that can be uniform in all specs, no two persons are identical.