When I was a kid, I’d hear someone in the family saying, ‘self-praise stinks.’ Hearing that pretty often, as I was growing up, those words stuck in my mind.
But then, I began realizing, when I was in my career, that eschewing self-praise could be complicated. Especially as business firms were getting into metrics, using them to gauge a whole lot of things, including a group’s or an individual’s achievements.
It’s not that my colleagues and I weren’t thinking about achievements; we were, very much of the time. And while teamwork counted for a lot, there were times when you had to go it alone. And that’s when ‘self-praise stinks,’ and metrics, were at odds, in my mind.
Because since metrics were, of course, rather impersonal, I was thinking that eschewing self-praise, entirely, just wouldn’t be entirely possible. Every now and then, in other words, you’d have to boast a bit to – you know! – actual people, when you were getting things right. Because metrics couldn’t always tell the whole story.
Well, anyway, a few days ago, I happened to read in Business Insider that “Republicans have been hammering Democrats with ‘socialism’ smears for years,” and that Democrats may now “have a chance to turn these ridiculous claims into an advantage.”
And reading that, as some techie folks I’ve known might text when they’re convinced they got something right… ‘HA – HA!’ is what they’d be texting. Because what was in that Business Insider article about “socialism smears” took me back to my first words in the Daily Post, in a letter I’d written, that was published back in 2019.
On January 30, that year, I wrote: “They’re really saying that? Republican politicians are calling Democrats lefties, even ‘radical lefties?” And I went on to wonder why GOP politicians “were using outdated words.”
So…
I was on to something, way back when.
And while there may be some differences between socialists and lefties – and, therefore, socialism smearing and lefties smearing – people often conflate those words, in their mind. So, that’s that, as far as I’m concerned, which just goes to show I was on the right track. I’d gotten it right! Or left?
Well anyway, what was that, again, about self-praise?
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.