I am entering a very dangerous area here so early on in my blog life but something happened yesterday at a function I was at which I just had to mention.

I was with a group of men at a business function and we were listening to some speeches being delivered by a group of people. One of the presenters was a female and unfortunately she did not deliver a good presentation. To my utter dismay the ‘lads’ on my table thought it was appropriate to make comments about what they hoped she would be good at. I made my feelings known about how I was offended by their comments and they looked at me very strangely as if I was a kill-joy spoiling some good natured banter.

This may seem like a really strange place to post what some may consider a ‘political’ message but I hope it is not considered that. I have always been a staunch defender of the political correctness ‘movement’. And I think it is very important for aggressive go getting business people to be politically correct. Why?

To me being someone who wants to exploit opportunities wherever they may exist means being someone who strives to get the very best out of talent – wherever it may exist. Getting the best out of everyone also means creating an atmosphere where everyone can flourish because they feel comfortable. Political correctness is no more than an acceptance that we should use language and behaviours that make people feel comfortable.

People tend to forget that we do inhabit both a work sphere and a personal sphere. People cannot leave the work sphere if they are made to feel uncomfortable as most reasonable will accept that this would be completely unfair (and the courts accept this as well!) We of course though have a choice about our personal sphere – and that is where we can choose to share jokes and interests with people who always have the ultimate option; to walk away if something is not too their liking.

You may believe that it was rude of me to ‘make a fuss’ at the function, but I was there as part of my ‘work’ and I think that I was entitled to expect a level of courtesy and respect that you would get at work.

How do I reconcile my political views with my passion for political correctness – for me it is simple. It is about giving people real choice and making sure they feel they are able to succeed. As would be or Entrepreneurs, I would hope that many of you would share this belief that if we give others respect they would return the respect.

Finally, I know it is very easy to attack political correctness by using extreme examples to criticise the whole idea. I think that it is like using the Klu Klux Klan to criticise Christianity or saying that The Taliban represent the views of one billion Muslims!

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