Another important piece in the respect jigsaw puzzle is showing people that you care. The key here, however, is to make sure that you’re caring about the right things. It seems that many people, particularly those striving for success, have a tendency not to do this. They care about themselves, money, winning by any means necessary and destroying the competition. However, if you care about your friends, family and colleagues; how what you do affects others; and the health of your profession, community or sector, then you will command respect and be seen to have integrity.
The great thing about caring is that if you care for others then there’s every chance that they will care for you. Having people behind you who not only care about your wellbeing, but also about you becoming successful can be a powerful force pushing you towards your dream. It’s also a great way of getting loyalty from your audience and stakeholders. Building a caring mentality and creating a caring culture for people can help you to overcome almost anything in the pursuit of your vision.
Some successful people have taken their levels of respect to new heights by not only showing they care about the people, parties and things that are close to them personally and professionally, but also for elements further afield, such as the disadvantaged, their community and the environment. One of the biggest displays of this kind of caring is philanthropy, which can even help to rebuild the damaged reputations of successful people – one of the most difficult of tasks.
The simple act of caring can, arguably, offer the biggest returns of any human characteristic. It immediately marks you out as a good person and will also give you great satisfaction in your success.