Work Relationships: Lessons from Star Jones' and Barbara Walters' Debacle

"It is a sad day when an icon like Barbara Walters, in the sunset of her life, is reduced to publicly branding herself as an adulterer, humiliating an innocent family with accounts of her illicit affair and speaking negatively against me all for the sake of selling a book. It speaks to her true character."

This quote is one that Star Jones made to US Weekly Magazine recently after hearing the comments that her former boss, Barbara Walters, said about her on the Oprah show. This quote is one that has sparked a new controversy of Star Jones versus Barbara Walters in the media. People are waiting for rebuttals and debating who is right, but there is one big point that is being missed out of it all. It's a situation that can teach everyone a five key lessons about working with other people. Read on.

LESSON #1 - Always makes peace with co-workers.

Although Barbara Walters stated that she and Star had made peace after their falling out, it is pretty obvious by the current events that this isn't true. If things had been peaceful between them, Barbara wouldn't have felt the need to talk about Star so much on Oprah nor would Star have felt the need to lash back. It's a sad situation, but lets us all know that those bitter feuds that we have with co-workers can spiral out of control. So it's best for someone to be the bigger person and apologize, so the relationship can move forward and avoid any uncomfortable, future scenes.

LESSON #2 - Make it a policy to tell the truth at work.

Unfortunately, in a lot of offices, there are little lies or secrets that people agree not to tell. What usually happens is what we now see with Barbara Walters and Star Jones. When it's convenient or just time for one of the workers to tell the truth, the person does and it's upsetting to all of the players. For this reason, honest should be every workers policy. Although it may not make you popular at the time that you refuse to lie, it will save your butt in the future from embarrassment and a lot of unnecessary controversy.

LESSON #3 - Never leave a job on a low note.