We’re all guilty of it every now and then: repeating a rumor we heard without verifying its authenticity. Often its a frivolous remark about someone’s new hair cut or chatting about someone’s ill health.
However, when it’s about businesses and people in a down economy, rumors become downright dangerous. Rumors can really hurt businesses and people ....And when it ’s about business and the people who run them or work there, in a down economy, rumors become downright dangerous....And a business can die because of a rumor.....And people can be hurt. When rumors start about a certain business closing the clients get nervous.
Our clients are families and their children. And I want to remind everyone about the harmful effect on businesses and people and our clients when an untrue rumor is spread ...
In the past few weeks, I have heard about many other businesses — and I am sure you have too — that were supposed to be closing, however, in reality, are doing fine. When checking with people in tracing back to who said what, I found that the Executive Directors and even Founders of companies have failed to properly fact check and unknowingly helped spread a rumor. Rumors are hurtful and they are about people. A business can die because of a rumor. When rumors start about a certain business closing, the clients get nervous. It can go so far as to become a self-fulfilling prophecy and lead to so much lost business, the once-healthy business has to close. Is that the intention of the rumor spreading? know that most professionals in this industry are torn when they hear a rumor about a business closing or even what a person may or may not be doing.
How many actually follow up to then find out it’s not true? I am not going to write a story about this latest rumor that came to my attention. That would be tough because by then naming the business who was spreading the rumor, I am bringing them unwelcome attention. Plus, I have enough stories to write while dealing in the world of things that are true. Running down everything that’s not true in this industry would be difficult. And at the end of the day, no private business owner is expected to share the intimate details of their financial shape with the public. While publicly-traded companies and governmental units are required to share financial statements with the press, that’s not the case with private owners. Sometimes it’s just not our business. I do my best to cover the industry news in a manner that is filled with integrity and professionalism.
That is whether or not a program or service in this industry is brand new and just opening their doors or closing or is experiencing an expansion or celebrating a milestone.
I promise to shy away from reporting (and therefore repeating) rumors. I would like to remind everyone about the harmful effect on businesses and people when an untrue rumor is spread.
The latest two rumors that need to be squelched about me follows ................
I have been contacted about two rumors regarding me .... one contact came from a program Admission Director ... I was in the process of setting up a visit to their program and before we made all the final arrangements, they want to know if what they heard at IECA in San Francisco was true - I am assisting WWASP (World Wide Association of Specialty Programs) in placing kids in their program and being paid by WWASP.
Maybe the person or persons at IECA who started this rumor about me have a perfect reputation, however, I would be willing to bet that is not true. Fortunately I do have enough ethical standards on which I stand that this person asked me about what they heard and did not participate in spreading this rumor any further.
Also, just today as this article was being written, another Admission Director who was at IECA was told that I had illegally infiltrated the IECA membership bulletin board and was spreading rumors myself.
First of all, I did not even know IECA had a bulletin board as I am not a member. Second, I have much more important things to do with my computer skills than spend time getting into a site in which I have no interest.
And more important than all of that is my integrity and professionalism in working with kids and families.
I will be attending IECA conferences in the future. However, being that they refused my money last time, I will be attending as a guest at the hotel just so I can meet those that have questions about me face to face.
I am an independent therapeutic consultant and I plan on staying an independent therapeutic consultant.
And you can say you read it here first. I am not always right about every single thought or idea I put in this blog, but I know I’m right about this.
Rumors are amazing things in an industry like ours. During all the time I have been involved in this industry I’ve never understood where they come from, how they get started, how they spread, or why people assume a rumor is the gospel truth, no matter how ridiculous it is. Rumor mongering, frankly, is one of the things that keeps small people small. If there isn’t some sort of juicy gossip going around all on its own – with some grain of truth in it – people will make stuff up and start spreading it!
I’ve seen it happen over and over again through the years. An idle rumor that really doesn’t hurt anyone, one way or the other, is one thing, but an idle rumor that hurts a business or a person who runs a business is another matter completely. Rumor mongering will probably continue unabated, no matter how much any of us rail against it. I can only hope that people will go to the source and ask, before repeating something they absolutely do not know if it is true or not.
For those of you with kids or those working with kids which is most everyone in this industry - Let’s say you have a child that just heard a REALLY juicy rumor about someone they know. It may not be true, but it’s too good to keep to themselves. Their first instinct is to hop online and IM it to all their friends. - Who is role modeling for them, teaching them, how hurtful this can truly be?
When people are feeling bad about themselves, they sometimes think they’ll feel better if there were someone worse off than they are.
If everybody else is gossiping or spreading rumors, you might feel you have to do the same thing in order to fit in. When you know a secret that nobody knows, or are the first person in your group to hear a rumor, it can make you the center of attention.
Certain people always want to be in control and at the top of the ladder.
Let’s say you have a piece of wood, a nail, and a hammer. Pretend the wood is a person, and the nail is a nasty rumor about that person. If you hammer in the nail, you’re obviously hurting him or her. If you then pull out the nail…well, there’s still a hole in the wood, and the damage has been done. There are many reasons why that nail of a rumor can be so harmful.
