Jun 28 2005
How To Be An Anti-Professional
Be VERY careful when using CC and BCC in email while dealing with conflict or problems.
It is extremely unprofessional to go above someone’s head via email. If you are unhappy with something, need an answer, or want some resolution to a problem, the first step (and often second and third step) is to email your contact directly. Give them a chance to answer and respond.
By also CCing their boss or other parties, you are essentially saying that you do not expect them to be able to resolve it and that it requires higher involvement. The problem here is that, if this is not the case, you’ve just lit a match and are holding it dangerously close to the bridge. Nobody wants to look bad in front of their bosses – if you are the reason they do, and especially if it was unnecessary, you can forget that person ever going out of their way for you again. Trust me on this one.
BCC can be very dangerous too – if you BCC their boss, when they reply it doesn’t go to the boss. The boss then doesn’t know the status or if there was resolution. This can often snowball into some very bad situations.
Be professional. Don’t be a baby. Solve problems, don’t create new ones.
