The Jerk Whisperer

“Don’t try to win over the haters. You are not the jerk whisperer.”

When we first saw this quote, which has been circulating a lot lately on Facebook and other places online, we were put off. Our instinct was to argue that it is, actually, our responsibility to win over the “haters” – or the people who just plain don’t understand or support the work that we do for one reason or another.

Isn’t winning people over an important part of leadership?

But the more we have thought about it, the more this quote seems to ring true.

The reality is that no matter how much energy and time we invest in converting them, some people will never support the success of others. They will never care about the needs of young people. They will never live lives of integrity and honesty and generosity.

And it’s not our job to win them over. As the quote says, we really are not responsible for being “jerk whisperers.”

What we believe we are meant to do, instead, is to live lives that are true to our purpose, to model our truth to those who are interested enough to notice, and to speak truth to power as much as we are able.

So, next time you find yourself frustrated with another person, we hope you will ask yourself: “Am I wasting time being a jerk whisperer?” “Should I be focusing my energy on people who are like-minded, or who at the very least share some of my core values?”

You are not the jerk whisperer! So stop acting like you are. We definitely plan to do the same.