I had a very interesting and brief email exchange with a friend via LinkedIn.  He had read an article that I posted on LinkedIn and he “Liked” it.  (By the way, that is very gratifying to a writer. . .  just sayin’)  I responded to him briefly and thanked him for taking the time to read the article and then taking that extra few seconds to give it the internet “thumbs up!”

This will be very brief today.  But he said something in his reply to me that struck a chord.  I had asked him why he thinks our comments are relatively low when our readership is at an all-time high.   And his response was that culture and the politically correct climate is causing this.  In other words, culture is squeezing us into a mold of quiet conformity (my words not his.)

Quiet leadership as opposed to screaming and yelling is a virtue to be sure.  In fact, I have written on this topic several times already.  Consider this one on Mahatma Gandhi and this one on the nature of leadership for some of my thoughts on the topic of quiet leadership.  But what are the implications of the quest for silence on other aspects of our lives and behaviors?

I am traveling this week and much of next week and may not have time to delve into this a little deeper until I return.  But, I really think that he is on to something with his response to me.

What are your thoughts?  Do you have any fodder for consideration as I put my thoughts into words?