Years ago the General Electric Company was faced with the delicate task of removing Charles Steinmetz from the head of a department. Steinmetz, a genius of the first magnitude when it comes to electricity, was a failure as the head of calculating department. Yet the company didn’t dare offend the man. He was indispensable – and highly sensitive. So they gave him a new title. They made him Consulting Engineer of the General Electric Company – a new title for work he was already doing – and let someone else head up the department. Steinmetz was happy. So were the officers of G.E. They had gentle maneuvered their most temperamental star, and they had done it without a storm – by letting him save face.
Letting one save face! How important, how vitally important that is! And how few of us ever stop to think of it! We ride roughshod over the feeling of others, getting our own way, finding fault, issuing threats, criticizing a child or an employee in front of others, without even considering the hurt to the other person’s pride.
PRINCIPLE 26: Let the other person save face.
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