A close friend of mine, a Delta Airlines employee, sat in on a portion of a voluntary Delta pep talk session last year during a layover in Atlanta. My friend couldn’t believe the folks conducting the session were loudly shouting profanities at what they were going to do to the competition.

We are going to kick the *&^%%$#$**=! out of Jet Blue!!!!

They whipped the group up into frenzy. And profanities continued throughout the session. It was unclear to my friend whether these cheerleaders were corporate or union personnel. They may have been outside consultants brought in to do a motivational session.

My friend says it was actually sickening to listen to that ranting and doesn’t want to go this year … but this time it’s mandatory.

We might expect this in a football locker room, but not in so-called professional businesses. Delta’s problems are way beyond firing up the troops. And if anything, it is Jet Blue that’s doing the kicking.

Delta should know that things spoken in such meetings get out in public. Things spoken in secret have a way of getting shouted on the roof top.

For corporate and union leaders…how you speak to and treat your employees, how you speak to them about your customers and competitors…inevitably affects how they view the world and act toward customers and competitors. The kind of talk my friend heard at Delta can’t be long concealed behind a thin veil of "customer service training." Just like at home, how I treat my kids invariably is played out in how they relate to others. If there is a lack of customer service in your corporate culture or an inability to actually compete, it’s probably not the fault of the troops.

And if these were hired guns brought in to fire up the troops, you wasted your money and you demeaned your people. And if you say you had no idea that this was going on, I’d like to hear you follow up with the words, "…and it won’t happen again."

For consultants and the corporate motivation crowd…if this was you, then it was totally unacceptable at a professional and personal level. Shame on you.

For the employees…I’m so sorry that you were treated this way. But, and I say this delicately knowing jobs are tough to come by, don’t put up with this. Hold your company and its leaders to a higher standard. But staying in this without speaking to it will end up damaging your own soul.