Leaders must remind themselves that first interpretations aren’t always the correct ones.

There often is a difference between what really happens and the stories we tell ourselves about what happened.

This reminds me of the parable I heard years ago, The Pig Story:

A man driving a car around a winding mountain road is confronted by an oncoming vehicle driven by woman driving recklessly. When she passed the man she had her window down and repeatedly yelled out PIG!

The man feeling insulted waves his arm yelling JERK! at the woman and then proceeds to hit a pig in the middle of the road.

She was trying to warn him, obviously he thought she was insulting him.

The story illustrates several important principles:

◾ We often assume intent without knowing the facts.
◾ Our emotions can cause us to misinterpret communication.
◾ Sometimes feedback that sounds harsh is actually meant to help us.
◾ Judging too quickly can prevent us from hearing an important message.

This is especially relevant to leadership. Leaders often receive comments, criticism, or resistance from employees. It's easy to assume people are being negative or disrespectful, when they may be trying to point out a problem, prevent a mistake, or express a genuine concern.

Great leaders understand that the real meaning of a message isn't found in the words alone, it's found by resisting assumptions long enough to understand the intent of the message.