# Chapter 250

Treat people as you believe they can be – not as they are. - Masterminds

If this means interact with people as you believe that they can and will become, then I get it. If it means responding to people as if they were their future nice amazing generous self, when in reality they are being an ass, I don’t get it. Having said that, treating people with optimism and generosity is generally a good thing. But no one is planning to interact with you on the basis of your future potential. Neither you nor this potential future merit that, and honestly this one smells like pixie dust and smoke to me. It sounds like a nice and politically correct thing to say. Unless you are part of the anti-meritocracy cohort, and this entrepreneur group is generally NOT since this is the school of hard work and diligence, then this premise for today’s chapter is disingenuous and false.

It can only be true in my world, if by “treat” we mean inspire, encourage, cheer, challenge, provoke and dare them to reach their potential. Any other “treat”ment is a disservice to your business or company and the other people who work there. Treating lazy uninspired disengaged slugs, as if they were first class producers, top salespeople, and the future CEO is a disservice to all. I would argue that treating these people as what you think their future may be, is in fact harming these current version of these people the most! They can’t possibly become the people you hope they will, unless they go through the experiences of being the people they are today.