Gordon Brown's, (the Labour parties former leader and British Prime Minister), former spin doctor has revealed how he regularly attempted to discredit the aspiring PM’s rivals by leaking stories about them to the media.
In extracts of a memoir published in the Daily Mail last week, Damian McBride claims he smeared Labour ministers including Charles Clarke and John Reid during Mr Brown's bid to succeed Tony Blair.
Seems like the constant ding-dong between number 10 and 11 was downright nasty and does nothing to endear politicians to an already distrusting British public.
It does not help the current leadership of the Labour party either. Both Ed Miliband and Ed Balls were senior players in Browns team. Whilst they have not been directly implicated it seems they will have questions to answer.
I guess the learning here is to be careful what you and your organisation do today as it may come back to bite you in the future.
Steve Jobs left Apple in 1985 after a fall out with his directors and founded NeXt computers. The computers were targeted at the educational market and failed quite spectacularly. Reuters published a piece which publicly slated both NeXt and Jobs, in an overtly personal way.
Wind the clock forward to 1996 and Jobs is now back running Apple and launching new products and services that change the world. One of which was the now ubiquitous Application (App).
When Reuters approached the Apple store with their App, Jobs refused to list it point blank. No discussion.
Being nasty has no place in my view in life or business, not only because it is wrong, it also makes bad sense.
Treading gently does not mean being soft, but it does mean having integrity.
A good measure is if you told your mum what you were about to do, would she approve.
If not have another think.
Alan Smith