I haven’t talked about this in awhile. For those of you don’t know, this is a key concept in the chapter on integrity in my book. Non-negotiables are the things you ALWAYS do. They can be at work or at home. Wearing a seat belt, not doing drugs are good personal ones. At work? They may be safety related or customer related but these things are ALWAYS done. You cannot compromise on a non-negotiable.

I saw it in action today. I was on a plane a few rows back from the boarding door. The usual final calls to shut everything down etc were being made. Standard stuff. The next think I hear is the flight attendant saying, “He threatened me, get security, I am getting the captain.” Moments later security was there and they took the guy (and his wife) off the plane (that was going to Las Vegas). I am thinking the wife isn’t happy right now.

Security didn’t ask for a second opinion or for another side of the story. They asked the guy to leave. He declined. They then told him he was leaving and he did. I confess I don’t like the guy being removed with no questions asked but I also don’t know what he said that was threatening and, more important, I also know you simply don’t mess around on airplanes anymore. It is non-negotiable.

What are the non-negotiables for you personally? What about in your work group? Do people know or is it something they are supposed to figure out by osmosis. (wrong answer).

And next time you are on a plane, make sure don’t threaten anybody or you will be late getting to Las Vegas!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 7:18 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.