Don’t Be the Dog

by Sanya Weathers

There’s one thing my dog can’t resist doing when we’re out for a walk, and that’s marking on fallen tree branches. He will burst his own kidneys straining for two or three drops to expend on anything with twigs and leaves. He’s not like this with any other object. It’s like he gets a particular joy out of desecrating something that was once twenty feet in the air. “Oh, sure, you were big then, and I’m only fifteen inches tall. But now who’s the boss, huh? How do you like me now, Mister Tree?”

I’m reminded of my dog’s little habit whenever I see the internet comments on product failures. The remarks are vicious in direct proportion to the height of the founder’s profile or the popularity of the company’s “face.”

I see people within the industry piling on, too, with comments they only think are anonymous. Listen, I’m all for a little gossip with a few trusted friends, but if you define “a few trusted friends” as “the internet,” you may need some media training.

Don’t be the dog. Don’t let your employees be the dog. What goes around, comes around – and marking on a tree branch that has fallen from the sky doesn’t make you twenty feet tall.