Letting one save face! How important, how vitally important that is! And how few of us ever stop to think of it! We ride roughshod over the feelings of others, getting our own way, finding fault, issuing threats, criticizing a child or an employee in front of others, even without considering the hurt to the other person's pride. Whereas a few minutes' thought, a considerate word or two, a genuine understanding of the other person's attitude, would go so far toward alleviating the sting!
Firing employees is not much fun. Getting fired is even less fun.
The effect on these people is one of disappointment and a feeling of being 'let down'.
Even if we are right and the other person is definitely wrong, we only destroy ego by causing someone to lose face.
"I have no right to say or do anything that diminishes a man in his own eyes. What matters is not what I think of him, but what he thinks of himself. Hurting a man in his dignity is a crime." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Principle 5: Let the other person save face.
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