How will you conduct yourself? Like Oprah or Like Wendy Williams?

How do you respond to confrontation or overly aggressive people?

Yesterday I did not take my own advice. Like so many of us I’m in a group text thread. While I had some downtime at work I glazed over a few text messages.

I see an individual who hasn’t learned that keeping it real is not always appropriate, being very tacky and very heartless. They haven’t been groomed on the appropriateness of certain conversations.

Regardless I open up to the group about a personal experience I had regarding my father’s unexpected death, hoping to bring a little compassion to the thread.

I thought surely this individual will back off regarding comments about the sensitive topic of unexpected deaths. To no avail they continued to drag it on and then they decided to interject an aside about my deceased father.

I won’t detail too much about the individual other than to say salty is an understatement that could be used to describe them. The type of individual who often goes too far with a joke or a read. The individual who you see carrying a lot of insecurities and as a result they aggressively pursue confrontation regarding their insecurities.

Nonetheless after their commentary I responded in a way that I’m not proud of. As I reflected about the exchange and my purpose in life I had to be more emotionally intelligent when dealing with hurt people.

One analogy that comes to mind is do you want to act or respond like Oprah or Wendy Williams. Both successful in their own right. One an up and coming media mogul the other the blue print and gold standard.

I thought I’d share this story, because it so important for many of us to reflect before we respond. In dealing with individuals you do not need to nor have to drag yourself to their level. Oprah is not trading slugs with anyone. She’s busy working on her purpose and expanding her brand. Her brand happens to be teaching people, helping them live their best life and growing people.  While Wendy is also working on her brand she’s doing it at the expense of others. From mocking them, to dirty reads, to mud slinging to attacking their character.

The next time one of us encounters a negative individual and spirit think how do you want to respond, like Oprah or Wendy Williams? Let’s all accept that challenge.