PUBLISHER’S CORNER
Is There a Modern Golden Rule? WRITTEN BY TONY CORPIN |
TONY@STNONLINE.COM A
s parent to two young daughters, my wife and I always try to share life lessons. My three-and-a-half-year-old likes to say, “Shar- ing is caring.” But somehow that adage only
applies when she wants me to share with her, and not the other way around. How’s that work? “Treat others as you would want to be treated.” Te
Golden Rule is short, succinct and powerful. Having been taught this age-old concept from the time we were young, most of us recognize its place in our personal lives. When it comes to the world of business, however, this rule isn’t applied nearly as frequently. Treat your transportation department workers fairly, and they’ll be motivated to provide excellent service, which can lead to happy students and satisfied parents in your community. Tis reflects positively on your district, department and staff, and that’s very important in the modern, connected and online universe in which we live. Building a positive reputation in today’s marketplace is as important as it has ever been, perhaps more so with social websites like Glassdoor, Facebook and Yelp rating and ranting about everything we eat and do, visit or buy. “Each time you live up to the Golden Rule, your rep- utation is enhanced; each time you fail, it is diminished,” writes author and speaker Fred Reichheld in the Harvard Business Review. Reichheld also shares, “…(W)e all want to be treated with honor and respect in ways, large and small, that enrich our lives. Such experiences not only make us happy, we want to share them with people we care about.”
When it comes to the Golden Rule, this simple yet timeless guideline holds more value than first meets the eye. In a world where the questions of ethics and moral dilemmas often arise, having a standard that you can refer to for your decision-making process can be invalu- able. So how do we instill this in our children to make them better human beings? Children at young ages can be targets of bullying behavior by other children and school district personnel need to stay vigilant. Believe it or not your district can be held financial liable so pay attention now to bullying prevention or pay later in a lawsuit. Te featured story
50 School Transportation News • JANUARY 2018
on page 30, “School of Hard Knocks,” touches on the horrific story of young Austin Schneiderman, and the worst three years of his young life. Schneiderman, even planned to commit suicide as the blatant bullying on his school bus had reached horrific levels. Do you actively train your staff to identify the signs of bullying? Currently, much of North America’s “anti-bullying”
work involves identifying the bully and punishing them. Bullies are often the children (and adults) who need compassion and kindness the most. If we as an industry continuously adhere to the Golden Rule by showing a respectful, kind and compassionate response to bullies, it could influence a global behavioral change. Recently, Safe Fleet promoted its campaign “United Against Bulling” and “’Tis the Golden Rule Challenge.” Both of these campaigns share important lessons that we should all strive to practice daily about being kind to others and how to deal with bullying. Te company’s website encourages more conversations about the proper treatment of others as well as how to create more ripples of kindness. Safe Fleet invited people to share in cele- brating the holiday season by posting a photo or video on Facebook with the hashtag #GoldenRuleChallenge that demonstrates the Golden Rule. Every one of us has the power to transform lives, so let us all make the Golden Rule a resolution as we start 2018.
Tony Corpin, Publisher
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