Imagine if we were more civil at work.

Not more polite. Politeness is BS. Civil. From the Latin, Civitas. Meaning citizen. A well-functioning member of society.

Societies work when we have hard conversations. When we bring a shared respect for our common humanity. When we’re willing to offend. And be offended.

This is not where we are right now. As a society or at work.

We avoid the hard conversations. We substitute through-our-teeth agreement for respect. We turn offense into passive aggression.

Layer that in with a culture that rewards a near-constant state of navel gazing and the results aren’t pretty.

Lexi Hudson knows we can do better. And she wrote a book, “The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves” that tells us how.

It’s not about following a rigid set of rules. It’s about leaning into time-tested wisdom that has been at the center of great societal advances, from Ancient Greece to the modern civil rights movement.

Lexi’s translation for today’s world?

Be less like Larry David, angling for every scrap of ego-fuel we can find no matter the cost to others.

Be more like her grandmother, Margaret. A magnanimous soul, self-composed, generous, other-oriented and real.

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Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way. Today’s episode is a part of the ProHuman Series, in partnership with the ProHuman Foundation, where Lexi is an advisor.

(If you enjoy this one, please like, share, rate, review or subscribe to the podcast.)

Let the desuckifying begin.

You can follow Lexi on LinkedIn. And check out her Substack newsletter at civic-renaissance.com, an ongoing conversation on the power of civility to help us create the good life.

If you enjoyed the conversation and would like to help your teams bring their absolute best to work, I invite you to schedule a free half-hour discovery session. Type “meow” in the calendar invite and I’ll also send you a free DesuckifyWork® t-shirt!

Bye, everyone!

Bonus question from Lexi to our audience:What are the kinds of incivility that people are experiencing in the workplace right now and to what extent has that to do with being online and not in person in recent years?

If you’d like to watch this episode on YouTube, please click here.