We speak with people.

We use objects.

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To the degree we are inclined to speak with an object, we personify it.

To the degree we are inclined to use people, we objectify them.

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When we speak with a person we enter into and participate in relationship. We are immersed, we effect change, we are changed, and we are woven together.

When we use an object we do something to it or with it. We stand apart and effect change without being changed, and we remain independent.

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When we command a subordinate this is less like speaking with a person than it is like using an object.

When we craft with a tool this is less like using an object than it is like speaking with a person.

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One’s taste in leadership reveals one’s relationship with people and objects.

One’s taste in work reveals one’s relationship with people and objects.

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Power means that you can insist that others speak with you as a person. You are to be reckoned with.

Power means that you can relate to people as objects. Your wish is their command.

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One reveals one’s relationship with people and objects through choice of words.

When people insist on being related to as people they have often insisted on the prohibition of their old object-status names. Out of respect of the person’s personhood, the object-status names are abandoned.

The prohibited object-status names are so objectionable I won’t even risk listing them.

(If you want to learn more about objectionable object-status names see Human Resources.)