Tuesday, September 27, 2011

How to Find Out What Rumors Are Being Spread About You

Apparently many people want to know how to learn what kinds of rumors others are spreading about them.
Whether out of morbid curiosity, a sense this will help them gaining some control or out of some sense that it's necessary to know the details in order to defend oneself, it's probably human nature to try and discover what others are saying.

It really isn't that hard to find out what is being said about you and in this post I will tell you how to do it.  But first I suggest you explore the reasons you want to know, and try to anticipate what will happen once you find out.

There are some instances in which I believe it is important to know what people have to say.  From a business perspective, there are benefits to knowing what others are saying about you professionally or about your brand.  Only once you know can you address the rumors and mitigate the damage.

But if the rumors are only personal and not a threat to your professional life, it may be best to leave them alone and keep your head in the sand.  First because it can be painful and frustrating to hear negative things about yourself.  Also because often there's not much you can do to make it stop, other than continue being yourself and sometimes that's very hard to do when feeling uncomfortable about how others perceive you.

If you consider all the factors, and still believe it best to know what people have said, it's pretty simple to find out.  Just ask.  That's exactly how I found out what had been said about me at work.  Find the biggest gossip and ask them,  "Hey, I heard there's some crazy stuff being said about me.  What have you heard?"  You may have to pretend it's all just out of morbid curiosity or for entertainment that you are asking these questions.  You may have to swear you'll never tell where you found out. You might even have to feed the fire a little bit by sharing some of what you have heard, but unfortunately, most people that engage in gossip are more than willing to tell you exactly what they have heard once you get them going.

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