Builders Talk Ideas, Not People

Some tables are not worth sitting at.

If the main dish is gossip, you will eventually be served too.

I’ve learned this the hard way.
The moment you join conversations built on tearing others down, you’ve already handed people permission to do the same to you.

Today they whisper about someone else.
Tomorrow, when you leave, it will be your name on their lips.

The truth is, people who thrive on gossip are not builders.
They don’t lift others.
They don’t create value.
They survive by dragging others down to their level.

And here’s the danger.
If you spend long enough at that table, you start to become one of them.
You start confusing cynicism for wisdom.
You start thinking that mocking others makes you smarter.

But leadership is not about joining the noise.
It’s about rising above it.

The best leaders I’ve met don’t waste energy dissecting people.
They invest energy in developing people.
They don’t talk behind backs.
They speak face-to-face with honesty.

So choose your tables wisely.
Sit with those who challenge you to grow.
Sit with those who speak of ideas, of visions, of solutions.
Sit with those who make you leave the table feeling bigger, not smaller.

Because who you surround yourself with will either shape your future
or slowly poison it.

My advice is simple.
Walk away from the gossip table.
Find the builders.

That’s where the real conversations are.