How was a waitress who refused to show her gap-toothed smile turned around to become a successful finance graduate? How did a veteran teacher make a difference in the life of a young “unteachable”?
How did a CEO avert the downward spiral of a company caught in the stranglehold of the economy?
These life stories and others are woven through Deborah Norville’s The Power of Respect. Norville has written a well-researched discussion of the destructive fallout of disrespect and the redeeming value of simple, sincere respect in families, classrooms, and workplaces. And she doesn’t just talk about the good and the bad; she gives step-by-step ways to instill respect in our own lives and in those around us.
Although Mrs. Norville uses little Scripture, the Golden Rule permeates her book. Like her, I’m thinking, “Why do we have to spend so much time and effort discussing this?” There were times I thought the writing could have been more concise, and although she says, “Respect begins at home,” I feel her book would have the greatest value in the workplace—especially now when workers are trying to hold onto jobs and management is trying to increase the productivity and satisfaction of the workers they have.
The most valuable statement in The Power of Respect is on page 2: “No one is too unimportant to be ignored. No one is so significant that others don’t matter.”
