Question Two: Is it Fair to All Concerned?
Every day we make decisions that affect other people, often without thinking about it. A quick email, a comment online, a committee vote⏤even the small matter of whose opinion gets airtime at a meeting.
Most of these choices feel minor at the time. To someone on the receiving end, they may not be.
That’s what the second question of the Four-Way Test is getting at: Is it fair to all concerned?
What’s fairness? It isn’t making everyone happy. That’s rarely possible, and trying to make everyone happy usually pleases no one. Fairness is something more modest and more demanding: treating everyone with respect, listening before judging, and weighing how a decision lands on everyone it touches, not just your friends, employees, or club members.
Your challenge for the next two weeks
Before you make a decision or respond to someone, pause and ask:
Have I considered how this will affect everyone involved?
- Am I giving everyone an equal opportunity to be heard?
- Am I making assumptions based on my own experiences or biases?
- If I were in their position, would this feel fair to me?
The fairest decision often isn’t the easiest one. Sometimes it means changing your mind after hearing a perspective you hadn’t considered.
So, for the next two weeks, pick one moment each day where you deliberately consider someone else’s point of view before you decide or respond. Silently ask: Is it fair to all concerned?
Fairness isn’t only about the outcome of a situation. It’s also about people walking away knowing they were seen, heard, and treated with respect.