It is very easy to hand out labels to people -

• Tiger Woods - womanizer
• Ben Roethlisberger - dirtbag
• Paris Hilton - stuck-up

These labels may or may not be true, but once they get stuck on a person, it is difficult to repair

How about some of these labels that you may give your employees or peers...

• unprofessional
• inappropriate
• childish and immature

As leaders, we need to be careful what we say, because labels STICK.  If we are in a meeting and refer to one of our employees as unprofessional due to one poor decision that they made, that label may stick with them for a long time. 

What's the alternative?

Coach them!  Spend time with your employees and find out why they acted unprofessionally, said something inappropriate, or behaved childish at work.

Once you have all the information, you can set up a plan of action for that person without possibly damaging their reputation.

Remember, we have a LOT of power as leaders.  We need to remember to always do the right thing at the right time.

Someone forgot to remind Big Ben about that...