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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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The Etiquette Edge summary
Beverly Langford
Modern Manners for Business Success
18 mins
Brief summary
The Etiquette Edge offers insightful guidance on leveraging modern etiquette to enhance professional and personal success. It highlights effective communication and behavioral strategies to help build rapport, foster respect, and navigate complex social situations.
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The Etiquette Edge
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The foundation of professional courtesy
As offices become increasingly casual and digital communication dominates, many professionals are discovering that mastering workplace etiquette can make or break their career trajectory. Research from the University of North Carolina's business school reveals a stark reality: over half of employees now encounter uncivil workplace behavior at least once weekly – a dramatic increase from just a decade ago.
This documented rise in workplace incivility has measurable impacts. Organizations report productivity drops of 20 to 30 percent in departments where rudeness becomes common. In these environments, 22 percent of employees deliberately decrease their work effort, and collaboration between teams breaks down. Most concerning is the talent drain – roughly 12 percent of employees experiencing chronic workplace rudeness eventually quit, taking their skills and institutional knowledge with them.
So how can you protect yourself and your career from this growing toxicity? The answer lies in building what behavioral experts call a courtesy shield – a set of consistent professional practices that insulate you from negativity and elevate your standing.
The foundation of your courtesy shield is reliability. Think you’ve already got this one down? Try tracking every commitment you make for one week – from promised email responses to offered project assistance. Most professionals are shocked to discover they follow through on only 60 percent of these commitments. By consciously raising this number through careful commitment-making and diligent follow-through, you create a reputation for dependability that becomes invaluable.
The second layer of your courtesy shield involves mastering difficult interactions. When a colleague sends a terse email, respond with a phone call instead of firing back. If someone interrupts you in meetings, acknowledge their point before calmly finishing yours. These micro-moments of composure accumulate, gradually marking you as someone who maintains professionalism under pressure. One senior manager adopted a "24-hour rule" – waiting a full day before responding to any contentious communication. Within three months, her team's conflict resolution rate improved by 40 percent.
The final tool in your courtesy shield is proactive courtesy – small actions that build goodwill before you need it. Start meetings by acknowledging others' time. End emails with specific appreciation for someone's help. Follow up on colleagues' important presentations or projects with concrete positive feedback. These seemingly minor gestures create a network of positive professional relationships that become crucial when navigating workplace challenges.
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What is The Etiquette Edge about?
The Etiquette Edge (2016) turns basic courtesy into a stealth advantage for modern professionals, showing how you can handle tricky messages, tense talks, and casual offices with a mix of polish and relatability others can’t replicate. When intelligence and ambition are the norm, the way you communicate, navigate tricky situations, and build relationships is what makes people notice and remember your contributions – without you having to force it.
Who should read The Etiquette Edge?
- Recent graduates adapting to workplace norms
- Mid-career professionals aiming for leadership roles
- Entrepreneurs building client trust through polished interactions
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