Soar to Success February 2021

Making Assumptions Is Bad For Business I know what you mean… and it’s bad for business How many times have you said that? How many times have you heard that little statement? My guess is probably thousands of times to both. With the best intentions we say “I knowwhat you mean…” which in business is a crap shoot at best for being correct. Each of us has a perspective on things that are created for the most part from our experiences which formed our beliefs. I haven’t had the experiences you’ve had and therefore my beliefs are not the same as your beliefs. We make assumptions when we don’t fully understand a situation. Sometimes we make assumptions when we think we know By Jack Klemeyer what a person means or what their intent is. Consequently, it is a natural reaction to immediately fill in any missing information by making up our own story. We do this because we like to try to make sense of people and situations. The problem with this is that most of the time our story is incorrect which causes all kinds of complications. The fact is, we don’t know what the truth is unless we ask! As much as we would like to think we know what others are thinking, we simply can’t read minds. Sometimes we think we have the superpower to know the reasons why people do the things they do (without asking them) which is pretty presumptuous. Remember, not everyone sees the world the same way you do (shocker, I know, but it is easy to forget).