Episode 129: Judge the Work. Protect the Person.

Judge the Work. Protect the Person.

What if you could hold people accountable, improve performance, and maintain high standards without making people feel like their worth is on trial?

Judge the Work. Protect the Person.

In this episode of the How People Work podcast, Shane Jacob breaks down the founding principle of The Worth Work System: Judge the Work and Protect the Person.

When employees take feedback personally, managers spend more time managing hurt feelings, conflict, and people problems instead of getting results. The problem goes deeper than how people react. It comes down to what they believe about their own value and how leaders approach accountability.

Accountability Without Making It Personal

Shane explains how to separate a person's behavior from their worth, why protecting the person doesn't mean lowering standards, and how to hold people accountable while treating them with respect.

He shares real examples from his own business, including why consequences still matter, how to repair disrespect, and what it looks like to tell your people, “We like you anyway.”

More Trust. Better Performance. Less Drama.

You'll learn why judging the work should be ongoing, how to lead with respect before delivering feedback, and how to create an environment where people can improve without feeling personally devalued.

The result? More cooperation. More trust. Better performance. Less time wasted on people drama.

Because you can hold people accountable for what they do without making their behavior who they are.

Your value is non-negotiable.

Episode 129 Full Transcript: Judge the Work. Protect the Person.

Transcript Introduction:

Below is the full transcript of this Episode of the How People Work podcast, hosted by Shane Jacob. In this Episode, Shane talks about the main principle of The Worth Work System, which is Judge the Work and Protect the Person. Read along or find the part you need.

Welcome to the How People Work Podcast

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this episode of the podcast. My name is Shane Jacob, your host, and I thank you for joining me for the How People Work podcast here this afternoon, today, this morning, whatever the hell time it is, wherever the hell you are. I appreciate you.

And today we're talking about the main principle, the founding principle, the core principle, the foundational principle. We'll call it the main principle of The Worth Work System, which is Judge the Work and Protect the Person. We'll go into that a little bit and just talk a little bit about what Judge the Work and Protect the Person means.

When it comes to application, we protect the person first and then we judge the work. Fun fact of the day, but let's begin with the way it the slogan says, the principle, Judge the Work. Okay.

It seems like it should be a no-brainer, but when I say Judge the Work, I mean quite a bit about that. And I'll tell you what I mean about that. When I say Judge the Work, okay, so let's just be c-clear.

Judge the Work is the the main principle of The Worth Work System, which is the really the foundational pro-principle of the system which guides. It's the foundational principle, and that it guides the culture. It guides the decisions. It guides the behavior and inside the culture, and it results in higher productivity, lower turnover, so much less wasted time dealing with people drama, interpersonal problems, conflict, back channeling, on and on and on.

Why Is Managing People So Complicated?

All the words that you want to use that say, you know, dealing with people is complex because we're complex. We're human beings. You put several of us together in a group, and then you add in the add in high stakes. Everything's important.

It's money. I mean it's how we make a living for hell's sakes. I mean everything's important. You and then you add all the stress of that.

And then, you know, in a business it needs to make a profit to survive, and people that are responsible for outcomes, and those are called your managers, and then you add all this together, and then you expect people to get along hunky dory all the time. I mean, good the hell luck with that. It's not that's not the way life rolls.

Being a leader, okay, or a manager is not about, you know, telling people what to do and coming up with systems of how to do things. It's coming up with how to manage human beings, how to how to connect, how people work.

You need to know how people worked. How people work. Hence the name of this podcast. And that's what we're here all about is to to study and become better about learning about how people work so that we can be more effective as leaders and managers in or in whatever organization that we're in.

Turn off my phones here. If you're on, if you're on video, not only and not on audio, apologize if you're on video, just taking a moment to turn my phone volumes off.

How Judge the Work and Protect the Person Turns Into Dollars

This is the guiding principle that is gonna result in a lot less chaos, a lot less people problems, a lot less drama, a lot less time spent managing people's emotions, being referees, and a lot less angst, a lot less. More cohesiveness, more cooperation, more respect, more regard. And the reason for this is is dollars, is what it comes down to because it turns out that the golden rule in this little old book, they, well, they call it the Bible, and a couple other standard works, we'll call it scripture, just so happens to turn into dollars in the workplace if you abide by the principles.

I mean that's just kind of the way it works. I mean it's not, I didn't make it up, God did, so not my deal here. I didn't come up with it all. I'm just trying to relay you the message and help you with the application so that you can have more dollars in your pocket and be more successful and have some more peace of mind and that the people that you lead you'll have more time to lead and provide better leadership and really what we're all here for and that is to in improve the quality of our lives for ourselves and for the people, for the organization that we work for, for the people that we lead.

And that's that's what it comes down to for me, and I probably for you too. I'm kinda a little low on volume today. That's my I got a little bit of a cold going on. Maybe sound a little nasally.

I don't know. So be it. We're rolling on with the podcast.

What Does It Mean to Judge the Work?

Judge the Work. Okay. So Judge the Work just means that we're going to be looking at the work. That's what we're here for.

We're here to judge the work. So the arrangement is you show up, Mr. Worker, Employee, Mrs. Worker Employee, you show up with this company here, and I need you to do XYZ. And if you agree to do XYZ, I'm gonna pay you XYX. Okay.

So you agree to do Y, they agree to pay you Z if you do Y. But how well you do Y, is that is that the right letter I get? How well you do your work is what we judge.

Why Judging the Work Is Never Finished

Now, there's a few things about judge work that are important to know and set as expectations for people in your organization. Number one is, is that judging the work is a never ending thing. Meaning it's important for people to know that while we should compliment people and while we should reward people in any way that we can, compensate, really give appreciation, give compliments, and stuff like that.

It's, you know, people need to feel like that what they're doing is, if they're headed in the right direction, that they're headed in the right direction. When they do something well, we can give them a reward for do something well, and we should. We need to. But what I'm talking about is, is that it's never gonna be perfect.

If you ask me, if you show up at your job and you do it the same way and it's, and it's just perfect every time and there's no other, there's no improvement from where you're at, then that's not really, that's not good work. The way I look at work or activities or tasks inside the, inside the job is, is how good can you be at it today? Okay, and that is an infinite answer.

There's no, there isn't no, I did it perfect. It doesn't, you don't reach that level. You do it better or worse on certain days, but the question is, is how well can you do it today? And is there a perfect system, which I also believe is dumb.

So if there is not a perfect system and you cannot do a perfect job, you can just do better at it, and you can improve the systems and the operations and the systems, like how you do things and what things that you do in order to make this company a better place, if those things are constantly being evolved, being transformed, being improved on. It, that means that work is a, in a constant state of improvement of instruction and of evolvement. Okay.

Why Employees Feel Like They Can Never Get It Right

So a lot of times when people do well or even if they do poor, whatever, when you, when you tell people, employees at this company, "You hired me to do X and I'm doing X, but you're constantly wanting me to do more and to change it and to do better and to do better and to do better and to do better. And you know, you're constantly telling me to do better, but I don't know what the hell, I mean, I'm doing everything I can here, Shane. What the hell, what do you mean do better? You know, I'm doing everything I can."

And a lot of times, if people don't have the expectation that the work is going to be an ongoing thing, they just think it's going to be measured like, okay, you did it well that day, you didn't do it well this day, you did it well this day, but not the other day. That it's just on a scale that has a limit, then if people have that expectation, yet their leader, you in this instance, is constantly asking for more or something different or changing the system or constantly changing or asking for more, then that person is probably gonna feel like they can never get it right, like they're always doing it wrong, like they suck, and like somebody told me today they feel like a loser. They're gonna feel like a loser.

If they don't, and so what I'm talking about it when we judge the work is I'm recommending that you set an expense, expectation that the way that we do things here is that we do our best to reward good and excellent behavior and to acknowledge it to let you know, "Hey man, you're doing good, you're on the right track," but also to let you know that this is gonna be an ongoing thing. It's kind of like saying, well, how profitable can this company be? We've reached a certain milestone and we're done.

It's, and it's like, how much money do you want to have? Is there really too much money to have, I, because I want to say no. And if there is, I want to experience what is too much just for a little while, and then I'll get back with you and let you know if it is too much or not. So, because I kind of think I'm going to come back with, it wasn't too much, and there may, there isn't too much money or improvement to be had.

So let's get to the point of one of the pieces of Judge the Work is setting an expectation for people to know that it's going to be ongoing. And so please don't feel. Do your best. We're going to do our best to present it to you so that you know that you're doing well when you're doing well, when that when the work is good, we're gonna let you know and acknowledge and reward and compliment and do all the things to let you know and appreciate the things that you're doing.

Yet, this is gonna be an ongoing improvement thing because we're never gonna arrive at the perfect job. So that means that you came to work here and you will never get your job perfect. You won't get it done in a way that it's satisfying totally satisfactory because we, it's not that we're not going to be satisfied. We're satisfied with your effort as it is or as it was, maybe, but we're we're going for more of a result, a better, more efficient, more effective, more higher.

We're going for, we're, this is gonna be an ongoing situation. It's important that you understand that that's how we roll here, and so that way you have that expectation set. That's number one, a part of Judge the Work.

Does Protecting the Person Lower Your Standards?

Another thing I wanna say about Judge the Work is, is that when you talk about Protect the Person, when you talk about civility, when you talk about respect, when you talk about how people treat each other in the workplace, a lot of times people use words like soft skills. They use words like, you know, well, your quality of work and your productivity is gonna go down the toilet because you're all you are is a softball.

You, you know, you're only worried about how people feel and not the results and the bottom line and all that. And to that I say, Judge the Work and Protect the, Protect the Person is the, o, is that, that is not true at all.

Judge the Work means that we, we're gonna very much so judge the work as I've been describing. And it also means that it's very important. It doesn't mean that we're going, that our standards are going to lower in any way, okay? Because what we're doing is judging the work.

What Is the Separation Skill?

The other thing is the Separation Skill. If you've left, listened to this, if you've listened to this podcast very much, or if you know very much about my work with organizations and companies, you'll know that, that what I call the Separation Skill is in your mind. And in the minds of people that we lead, we attempt to separate behavior from value. Value meaning worth, meaning the worth of the person.

Okay. So we separate the value of the person or the worth of the person with what they do. So what you do and who you are are not the same. And so we mentally separate that, and we look about, and we judge.

We judge the work, okay. That's over here. This is the behavior, and but we always protect the person, and that is over here the value or the worth of the human being. We always protect that.

So, and then so that's an important part of Judge the Work is that Separation Skill that we teach people. That we want to separate, we want people to know that when we come to them, this is what the bottom line is, okay.

When I come to you and I need to give you instruction, correction, quote unquote, feedback, I need you to change what the hell you're doing because it isn't working, okay? This is the bottom line. Or it's working pretty good, and I want you to do, we want to improve it from where it's at.

Whatever the case is, I need you to do something different. And when I explain this to you, I don't want you to feel like something is that you're deficient in any way because I need you to change what you're doing. That doesn't mean that you're defective, it doesn't mean that you're a bad person.

It doesn't mean you're a slow learner. It doesn't mean that you're a loser. It doesn't mean that you suck at your job. It doesn't mean anything about you.

It simply means I want you to change what you're doing, and we separate. What you're doing, the work over here, with over here is the you who you are, and we protect the person. That's the Separation Skill.

And like I said, the bottom, why? Why do, is the Separation Skill important? So that if people understand that, and if we implement it to the best of our ability, people will feel less judged, they'll have less hurt feelings, and they'll be more cooperative, more open to, well, basically doing what the hell you're asking him to do at this job, okay? That's what we're trying to accomplish here.

They're more productive, they're more engaged, they're more loyal, you have lower turnover, people stick around with you because they believe that you give a shit about. And that's what it comes down to is caring about people. And I haven't always cared about everybody all the time, and I don't do this perfectly, but I endeavor to do it, and I'm here to tell you that it makes a positive difference in your organization. I guarantee it.

Do Consequences Still Apply When You Protect the Person?

So Judge the Work, there's just a few pieces of that. I want you to know that it has, it's important to note that when we judge the work, we're, we're judging the work and we're going to judge the work, and it's important because that's why we're here. What we do matters. And by the way, just let me say this: it doesn't mean that, that there aren't consequences and there won't be for your behavior here at work or anywhere else in your lifetime for that matter.

Okay, because here's the deal. What we do, like I said, it matters and there's consequences for it. And because that we protect the person does not mean that we have a lesser consequence for our behavior. It doesn't mean that at all, okay?

It doesn't mean that I, I like what you do. It doesn't mean that what you did is good. It doesn't mean any of that. It just, Protect the Person means protect the person at all costs.

But we separate and we judge the work and the work has consequences. We have, over the years I've had challenges, we'll say, to say the least, issues with people making it to work on time and showing up when they're scheduled and being dependable to come to work at my horse feed company here in Las Vegas.

Sometimes they agree to the schedule. They agree to come on time and to be here on the days that they're scheduled for the time that they're scheduled, and then they just don't. And so there's consequences for that. We had to, to, in, we had to come up with the consequence as a, as one of the incentives to, to be dependable.

What Does "We Like You Anyway" Mean at Work?

You know, it's kinda like being a parent in some. Being a good leader is a lot like being a parent. Because, and I'm gonna, there's a whole nother podcast on some of these ideas, and one of the ideas is that we like you anyway. We like you no matter what.

I like to say we like you anyway. And really what we're asking people to do in our workplace and our culture and the people that I work with, the organizations I work with, the teams and groups and people and companies and small businesses and all of that.

We ask people and we encourage people, and this is my idea that no matter what you do in this at work or off work for that matter, no matter what you do or don't do, we like you anyway, okay? That's a whole nother podcast, but I want to bring up the point that when you separate what people do from who they are, when you use the Separation Skill.

No matter what people do or don't do, we always, we just like anyway, okay? You hearing me? I mean, no matter what they do. I mean, like, no matter what, okay?

They embezzle, they steal from the company, they're disrespectful, they're just way out of the line, they do things that need to, they need to be terminated, fired, let go, laid off, put on a improvement plan. They had an affair with the CEO, they did something horribly horrendous. I mean, no matter what people do or don't do, they didn't do the deadline, they didn't do the work, they did da-da-da-da-da-da. Whatever they do or don't do, no matter what, we like you anyway.

Now we don't like what you've been doing, okay? And there's a consequence for that. And unfortunately, you have to pay that. It's kinda like when I said children and parenting.

Most of us like to think that we unconditionally love our kids, meaning that no matter what they do or don't do, we love you anyway. We love you anyway. We love you. No matter what.

I'm suggesting this is a little radical, and you might be just shaking your head thinking I'm full of something. But I'm here to tell ya, like em anyway. If you can practice that thought that I like you anyway, or I like you no matter what, or I like my people, or I like my team, or I like my company, just practice thinking that and get good at it and believe it and, and live it and, and want to and see the results of it, then things really start changing, okay?

And, and it is a little bit radical because it's just so un-normal. It's just flat backwards of the way that we're taught to believe about people. They did this, then they're that. You know what I'm saying?

It's just, it's so easy to do because it's so ingrained in our, our, our, our culture and the way that we're, we were raised. So we like you anyway, okay? Now that part is Protect the Person.

What Does It Mean to Protect the Person?

So I'm gonna, I'm gonna officially move on from, talked a little bit about some of the pieces of Judge the Work. Now we're going to talk about Protect the Person. In the very beginning, I said we protect the person first in the implementation of the principle. And here's what I mean by that.

If I need to go to you and say, "Hey person, hey you, hey you that works for me, or that I'm your leader of or manager, here's the thing. I need you to change what you're doing because what you're doing isn't working. I need you to stop doing that and start doing this." Now, when I come to you and tell you this, you might not want to hear that because you might make it mean a whole bunch of negative things about your own value.

For example, the things that, some of the things that I mentioned. You're not good at it, you're not capable, you're defective in some way, you're deficient, you're not smart enough, you're not talented enough, you're not educated enough, you didn't do a good, good job, you procrastinate, whatever. There's a, a plethora of, you know, thousands and thousands or millions of things that you can think negatively that you could take on a meaning because I need you to change what you're doing.

Okay, you just might not, you know, what you're doing isn't good enough. I need you to do this. But remember what I said: what you're doing, not you, is a human. You're good enough, what you're doing, not.

How Do You Protect the Person First When Giving Feedback?

When we come to give the feedback, make this change, do the instruction, have the conversation with our person, the first thing that we do is protect the person. And we do that by prefacing our comments. And it, that would sound, what that sounds like, it looks like, is something like this.

"Hey you, so-and-so. Just want you to know, hey, I have the utmost respect for you. And this, just want to remind you, this isn't about you because I have all the regard for you in the world. But we, I, we just want to look at what you're doing.

"So this is just about what you're doing. I want to make a couple of changes about what you're doing."

So now they can believe that or not, and how I present that, exactly how I come across, my tone, my, how I present the idea to you. But I want to just say it. I want you to know that this isn't about you, it's about what you're doing that I want to change.

I don't want you to change. I like you anyway, okay? Even though what you're doing over here is, I don't like. But I like you, okay, and, and I need you to know that those things are different and that I, that I do respect you.

What Does It Mean to Hold People in High Regard?

When I say Judge the Work, I'm gonna tell, this is important. When I say, excuse me, when I say Protect the Person, Protect the Person means, I, what it means to me in the way that we implement Protect the Person is that we hold people in high regard. And well, "How do you do that, Shane? What the hell does that mean?"

It means that we respect people. Now, what is respectable and what is not respectable is subjective to what people think about what respect is. So there's a little bit of that, so there's a little bit of variance. But in general, we teach, we treat people with kindness, with, and with respect and with regard and with honesty and with empathy.

Kindness, empathy, with regard, with respect. Those are the kinds that the way that we want to roll with how we, with how we treat other people. We acknowledge them, we honor their perspective, meaning that we are willing, we don't, we may or may not agree with what they have to say, but we value, or we at least, we value it by what they have to say by listening.

We at least will listen to what they have to say. Okay. So we listen, and the bottom line here, though, is respect, and that's what I want to talk about. Protect the Person means that we respect human beings.

Regard, period, bar none, no matter what they've done or done, or do or don't do here at the company. You know, we might have to, like I said, we, we might have to part ways with what could be some disciplinary action. I might need to, you know, who knows what.

I might have to fire you on the spot, but I'm gonna do my best as your leader to do that with regard for you. To do that with regard for you. Kind of like if you needed to discipline your child. You know, I like you anyway.

I just don't like what you're doing, and we can't have that here. That is what we endeavor to do.

Why Everyone at Work Makes Mistakes

Now everybody that works for me so far, including me, is a human being. And just so you know. And human beings, well, it turns out, are imperfect. Well, except for one.

And none, all the human beings that work for me are imperfect, and so therefore, including me, and so therefore we're gonna make mistakes. We're gonna be disrespectful sometimes. Just say it. I mean it's gonna happen.

Don't give me this horse shit that it never happens. It does, and that's okay. Okay. And this is something else that goes into expectations with people.

You know, I want people to know when it comes to Protect the Person, I want them to know that, that they're equal and that they're 100%. Protect the Person means that they are invaluable, meaning that their value is perfect.

Their behavior sure the hell isn't. Neither's mine, neither's anyone's, but their value, as their worth as a human being, is perfect. And there's nothing that can change that. Nothing that they can do, nothing that anybody else can do.

That, that's the way it is. And that I'm the same way. I want you to know. If you, if I'm your leader or manager or you work here, I want you to know that I don't think, that I know, that I am not one ounce any more worthwhile or worthy or valuable or better than you in any way when it comes to the value of a human being.

I hold you at the, at 100%, and I hold me at 100%, and that is the same. Okay, so that is another piece of this Protect the Person. I want to set that up in the beginning.

And part of the expectation is that we're gonna make mistakes. That's right. We're gonna, of course we're gonna make mistakes. Mistakes are like, implies that it was unintentional, it was a total accident.

Of course we're gonna do stuff that's an accident. And as I've talked about many times on this podcast, I'll say again, we're also gonna do things that are wrong on purpose.

Do People Make Bad Decisions on Purpose?

Now you might not want to hear that, but I'm looking you in the eyes right now and telling you, you straight up are. You probably already have done several things today that, that go against your own value system that you did wrong on purpose. And you're like, "Huh, bullshit, why didn't I? Really?" Well, we do as human beings, you know.

It's like, well, I was only gonna have three cinnamon rolls this week, but I mean, you know, I had four. Okay. Now was it, was that an accident? Was that an accident?

Did, did you accidentally trip and fall down on that cinnamon roll and accidentally ate it? Because I am thinking not. And so if you're honest with yourself and you take a look at how we do things, if you've ever procrastinated, if you've ever done something that went against your discipline, in other words, if you didn't keep a promise to yourself, ever had that happen where you said you're gonna do something and then didn't quite get it done?

Ever. Of course, and was it an accident? Be honest, a lot of the times, probably most of the time, no, it wasn't an accident. You just made a choice.

You made a choice that went against your value system. Now, what does that make you? It makes you like me. And by the way, every other human being is what it makes you.

It makes you a person on this earth is what it makes you. And the more that you come to know that and recognize it and accept it, the more that you can accept yourself, and then actually the less that you make decisions that are against your value system. It's a total paradox. But that's the way it works.

And so if people know that it's okay to make bad decisions. You're gonna make a bad decision. I didn't hire you to make a bad decision. There's gonna be a consequence for it.

I don't want you to. I'm not telling you to do it. I'm not setting an expectation that we all make bad, d-decisions here, only to the extent that I'm just telling you it's gonna happen. We're not looking forward to it, but we know it is, and that's not gonna affect the way that we protect you as a person, we're still gonna hold you in high regard, in perfect regard, to the best of our ability, and we're gonna respect you the best we can.

However, you know, you might trigger me. You might trigger me. Kidding?

People don't trigger us. We trigger ourselves. But we're gonna, we're gonna make a bad decision. We're gonna, we're gonna react, and we're going to do something that we wish we wouldn't of at some point in our life, and at work also, in this job, in this career, in this position, you're gonna, you're gonna make a bad decision.

And you could be disrespectful to somebody. That's gonna happen, and that's not what, the way that we want it to be, but that's the way that, the, that we did it.

How Do You Repair After Being Disrespectful at Work?

And so the requirement is simple. The, the way that we do it here, and what I promote in The Worth Work System, is this, is that, hey, we just don't tolerate it. It's gonna happen, but what we don't tolerate, let me be clear, is, is being disrespectful, d-disrespectful without repairing.

Repairing meaning that if I was the one that is disrespect, that, and I, it's brought to my attention or that I recognize it, that I go to whoever is being infringed upon, whoever the victim. I am not gonna strike that from the record, please. If you are the one who feels disrespected, dis-disrespected, or if I recognize that I could have made you feel disrespected, or if I flat ass say that was disrespectful what I did, I believe that it was, or you believe that it was, I'm gonna go to you and try to make it well.

I'm gonna apologize. I'm gonna ask for forgiveness. I'm gonna try, I'm gonna make a plan for next time, in the, if a situation like this comes up again where I handle it in a different way, because I want you to know that I regard you the same as me, and that is with perfect value, even though, you know, because this is, disrespect is, is about a, who you are.

It's about your person. It's about not, res-not protecting the person. We always protect the person, and when we don't, we repair quick and sincerely. And if you're willing to do that, then just like I told, today in a meeting, I told a man in the meeting who, apology.

I said, "Once you have till the end of the day to do this and once you repair this thing, I will never bring it up again." It's gone, it's over. And he did, and it's gone, and it's over. I mean, as far as, as far as any effect that it has on his, has on his employeeship.

Does it has to do with his work, his job here. Okay. His position here at my company because he went and made the repair, and then, then it's over.

What Happens When You Judge the Work and Protect the Person?

So that is Judge the Work and Protect the Person. We always protect the person because we want people to feel valued, important, like they belong, like they're significant, like they matter. Because, well, they do, just like you do and just like I do. That's why.

And the more that we can promote these ideas, the more that we can, basically, well, begin with them ourselves, okay? Accept them, accept ourselves, and live this way for ourselves, and then demonstrate what we believe by the way that we treat other people with these principles, the effects, the results in the workplace are really, well, they're pretty magical. It's, it's, it's a night and day damn difference between, between not, between being disrespect, between not protecting the person. We're gonna, Judge the Work is a no-brainer.

We're constantly gonna be trying to improve the work and judge the work and do it better and, can you do this, and you did this wrong, and I need you to change it. That's the easy part for me, and I think for most of us. The more difficult part, which we lead with, like I said, is protecting people and coming to accept these, and I'm, I, I think it's a radical idea that we like you no matter what.

We like you anyway. We are always gonna respect who you are here no matter what. No matter, are you hearing me? No matter what you do or don't do.

Your Value Is Non-Negotiable

And on that note, I just want to say this, to close, that if you haven't accepted this for yourself, or even if you have, I want to ask you to, more and more over time, internalize this idea. And I'm gonna ask you to believe me. I'm gonna ask you to just consider believing what I'm about to tell you.

And that is this: that no matter what you do or don't do, and no matter what you've done or not done, or what you will do, or what you won't do in the future, or what's been done to you by another person. There is nothing. It's not even within your or their power. There is nothing that can change your perfect value.

Your value is non-negotiable. Stay with me, my friends.

Podcast Episode 129 Summary

The main principle of The Worth Work System is Judge the Work and Protect the Person. Work is never perfect, so it keeps getting better. Protecting the person means treating people with respect, no matter what they do. The Separation Skill keeps what you do apart from who you are. Standards do not go down, and consequences stay. Leaders protect the person first, repair quickly when they are disrespectful, and say we like you anyway.