The Respect Project

The Society for Human Resource Management reports that 86% of the employees they surveyed said they'd experienced some form of incivility in the workplace within the last year. Some estimates indicate that incivility and bullying at work may cost American business as much as $300 billion every year. And the human toll is staggering. School children are 3 to 5 times more likely to commit suicide if bullied. And today, online disrespect, bullying, and harassment is so extensive that 48 states now have cyberbullying laws on the books. Can we reverse these trends and restore the value of respect at home, at work, and in our community? I say yes, and you can help.

I'm Jim Bouchard. Usually I'm the guy who teaches you how to think like a black belt, but today I'm here to make an appeal for a very special project we've launched. The Respect Project.

I was asked to talk to a group of elementary school kids a number of years ago about respect and responsibility. And I still do a similar talk for businesses today, but I always start the talk by asking for a definition. And most people have a real hard time trying to offer a clear definition of respect. Well, anyway, I asked this group, I said, I said, "Tell me what respect means. Give me a definition." A little guy stood up and he did this thing. He must have known I was a martial artist, right? He bowed and he said, "Sensei, respect means taking care of one another." Have you ever heard a better definition than that? That is so crystal clear. Now, you have to again go from there with your company's culture, with your organization's culture, your school's culture, and we're going to define specifically how do you expect people to behave. And that's— those are the steps that you're going to spell out in your respect policy. With a respect policy being proactive policy, what you're really doing— your response to it is what you're looking for— is that you can coach people into the right behavior.

So how do people know when they're acting respectfully or disrespectfully to a coworker?

Yeah, that's a great question. Along with this respect policy, what we're talking about doing with the Respect Project is helping you design training. You have to— this is— respect is something you have to practice, and it requires ongoing training at every single level. Your leaders have to model and exemplify this principle of respect that we're talking about. This has to go down to the next level, to the next level, to the next level, all the way down to the front lines. But it has to be trained and it has to be consistent through all levels of the organization. Then you have to educate people. You have to, you have to show them what that is. How can you expect people to behave a certain way if they don't know what the expectations are? You have to train people where they go if there's an issue. And you have to have a clear line of communication for that process to happen. So if there is an issue, there is a problem, people need to have someplace to go. And there has to be on the other side of it— here's the other branch— there has to be clear and consistent response to that. I said this has to be modeled from the top down, but it also simultaneously has to grow from the ground up. And that's another part of the argument for having a proactive policy rather than a reactive one.

Your contribution is going to help us launch the Respect Project. And help us build this principle of respect across the country in businesses, schools, and other organizations. We need your help to fund 3 major phases of the project.

One, we gotta get the book published. Two, we need some beta tests. And three, we need to get media attention.

And here's what you're gonna get for your contribution.

Everyone who contributes will receive a signed copy of The Respect Project book in addition to other bonuses. For gold and platinum level contributors, I'll visit the approved organization of your choosing to present a live Respect Project training event. Plus, once the project's up and running, 20% of all profits from book sales and program fees will be earmarked to support select organizations promoting respect and civility and those working to combat bullying, harassment, and assault.

There are a lot of complex problems in our society we can't do anything about, but this one you can. Even your smallest contribution to the Respect Project is gonna help us share this idea across the country and across the world. And it may even save a life.