Stupid People

I hate stupid people.

This is hardly earth shattering material, I know. You hate stupid people just as much as I do. Maybe even more, who knows.

I have a friend who works at a local grocery store. Whenever I see him, the conversation always turns to a common passion, hockey. We both enjoy the game immensely, especially the numbers of the game- salaries, stats, that kind of thing.

There's just one problem: he's always wrong.

It's true. Whenever he tries to impress me with some obscure stat, he's wrong. I've actually taken the time to look up his faux pas, and confront him with the evidence.

And yet he still does it. He just doesn't get it.

I can't understand why he'd be so stupid to quote stats that he can't confirm. And because he's wrong so often, my mind has started to label him as stupid. It's like the boy who cried wolf, each lie just makes it less likely for me to believe anything he says.

Different story, same thoughts. I was chatting with a former co-worker about the whole financial mess in the U.S. This former co-worker has absolutely no idea about what's going on. He has zero interest in hearing anything positive about the stock market. If it were up to him, the entire financial system would be abandoned, which would really show all the people screwing the little guy.

What do these guys have in common, and how does it relate to you?

It's simple. We're all marketers. I'm a marketer. So are you. And so are my friend and former co-worker. We're all marketing different things.

What about my friend? How well is a guy who consistently gets his shit wrong marketing himself?

How about my former co-worker, a blue collar worker who should, clearly, stick to topics that he knows about? What's his message?

Once I've labeled you as an idiot, it's pretty hard to shake it.

How often do your co-workers, bosses, associates, clients, customers or even friends label you as an idiot? And even worse, how often are they right?

Maybe it's time to start marketing yourself a little differently. Instead of procrastinating, do the job right away. Instead of making up some bullshit when your boss asks a particularly tough question, maybe you could actually admit you don't know.

There's no better time to start either. Once you've acquired the moron tag, it takes a while to lose it. It's best not to get it in the first place.