Comments on: How racist is too racist? http://insidefromtheinside.com/2009/05/07/the-racism-spectrum/ Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:38:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Lena L. West http://insidefromtheinside.com/2009/05/07/the-racism-spectrum/comment-page-1/#comment-849 Lena L. West Sat, 09 May 2009 01:23:37 +0000 http://insidefromtheinside.com/?p=1244#comment-849 Well, you never want to call someone a racist - even if you think they are. To do so sparks a huge subjective conversation that eventually goes no where. I find when I want to move a conversation forward, I ask a question. A good one, in this instance, might be: "It's interesting that you say that. Why do you think you feel that way?" Or something to that effect. The point being to sound and BE genuinely interested in hearing what they have to say - whether you agree with them or not. Often, when you ask a question to get to the bottom of a situation, you help the other person to uncover the message behind their statement. Just like often times, what clients THINK is the problem, is only really a symptom of something else going on in their business. But, if you ask the right questions, you'll get to the bottom of things. Well, you never want to call someone a racist – even if you think they are. To do so sparks a huge subjective conversation that eventually goes no where.

I find when I want to move a conversation forward, I ask a question. A good one, in this instance, might be:

“It’s interesting that you say that. Why do you think you feel that way?”

Or something to that effect. The point being to sound and BE genuinely interested in hearing what they have to say – whether you agree with them or not.

Often, when you ask a question to get to the bottom of a situation, you help the other person to uncover the message behind their statement. Just like often times, what clients THINK is the problem, is only really a symptom of something else going on in their business. But, if you ask the right questions, you’ll get to the bottom of things.

]]>