By Evans Tu (President & CEO, SYNNEX Group)

Now and then we hear the following criticism: “That person doesn't think before they speak.”

If we observe our daily lives carefully, we will find that some individuals tend to speak without careful thought. They say the wrong things and make misguided comments, ultimately creating a dangerous situation in which unaware individuals around them are misled into making inaccurate decisions.

An individual develops such habits as they grow and progress on their career path. Their ill-considered comments, having been left uncorrected or even tacitly encouraged, are a result of someone else's negligence.

Since they continuously manage to get by with their thoughtless comments, they are not used to organising their thoughts before they speak. In the long run, the result of this is an incapability of exercising sound judgement and making accurate decisions.

The words of people who speak without thinking only misleads individuals who are unfamiliar with them into believing that it is true. Once an individual interacts more frequently with them, they slowly realise how unreliable these people are. However, the majority of them tend not to contest what they say out of politeness, peace-keeping purposes or the belief that it is none of their business. Instead they choose to stay away from these individuals, distrust or simply ignore their thoughtless comments.

It is not at all difficult for people with a slight sense of judgement to see right through these individuals who speak without thinking. Only they themselves are unaware of what others think of them and continue to wallow in their pride like The Emperor in The Emperor's New Clothes.

The simplest way to tell whether we are these individuals who are mistrusted by the majority of people is to observe whether our opinions are generally accepted or dismissed by others. Self-reflection is important, when our opinions are rejected by others we should focus on reflecting upon ourselves instead of finger-pointing others.

Managers must also help these employees to change their behaviour. An individual can only develop their capabilities and improve their work performance when they give careful thought to what they say. If a manager just wants to be nice by tolerating such behaviour, they are encouraging the spread of inaccurate information in the workplace which induces other employees to misunderstand things or make unwise decisions that affect the company culture and efficiency as a whole. Not to mention, the respective individual will continue to have poor judgement and work performance.

Speaking without thinking is easy. However, over time your managers, subordinates and colleagues will stop believing in what you say and begin to ignore your presence.

Gaining other's trust is not easy. If we do not think before we speak, we will ruin our hard-earned reputation. Individuals who have a habit of doing so should set their mind to change it!