In her recent TED Talk, Georgetown University Business School professor, Christine Porath hit a collective nerve by asserting that incivility is doing great harm to people in their workplaces. But perhaps her more surprising conclusion is that organizations are paying an even greater price by not addressing it.

Through her research, Dr. Porath discovered incivility is highly contagious. It makes people less motivated, instantaneously less engaged – & deeply resentful. 12% of workers who feel slighted or disrespected in their jobs end up quitting. And for all of these reasons, incivility is having a profoundly negative impact on most company’s bottom lines.

In this podcast, we explore all the reasons why rude, curt & even unkind behavior has become so prevalent in business today – & discuss the surprisingly simple ways managers & companies can create more respectful cultures.

If there’s one key take-away my discussion with Dr. Porath, it’s that civility not only lifts people, it greatly elevates performance, too.