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“A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter is not a nice person.”
A person’s character could give us a glimpse of how it’s like to live with him, do business with him, or to work with him. That is why being a good judge of people is a necessary skill in choosing the right people to surround ourselves with.
The problem is, we judge people based on extrinsic factors like, appearance, achievements, education, status, and what not simply because it’s easier and faster. Typically, we give importance to skills and appearance over attitude and character because that’s what society favours. It’s only when things go south that we realize how we’ve been impulsive to give them crucial roles in our business, or
worse, in our lives.
In Anthony K. Tjan’s article on Harvard Business Review, he discussed some easy ways to become a better judge of people; one of them is through observing how a person treats someone she doesn’t know. More specifically, how she treats people on the lower status. Called the “taxi driver or server test,” you can tell a lot about a person by how he treats the service crew. People can act kind to those
they could benefit from but rude to people they deem inferior.
Abraham Lincoln said, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” Indeed, power could bring out the worst in us for it takes away the need to be liked. Consequently, it’s an effective tool to reveal a person’s true character.
