When it comes to relationships whether it is with family, friends or employees and co-workers, we often times make decisions based on our perception of the circumstances and or of the individual we deal with. My mentor in principal Lou Tice said, “Human beings behave in accordance with the truth as they believe it”. However, our perception and the truth maybe two different things and yet it directs us to make decisions right or wrong. And sometimes, we end up having a revelation of the actual reality and start looking at things through a different set of lenses and our perception changes and all of a sudden new opportunities present themselves to develop a winning strategy either at work or at home. Unfortunately, it is also our nature as human beings to fall victim to ego, judgement or criticism and destroy relationships sometimes beyond repair or wait until it is too late.
I lost a loved one this week who suffered from a debilitating condition for a long time causing enormous pain to herself and to her loved ones and damaged relationships. We all saw these circumstances through a distorted set of lenses that became our reality and responded accordingly. It set our family apart for the past few years. Something magical happened upon her demise. We all got together and remembered what a special person she was with all sorts of gifts and qualities that guided all of us through the years as we raised our family, we saw the selfless, giving nurturing, inspiring and empowering beauty of a human being that got masked by a debilitating disorder that took away her senses and ultimately her life.
In these newsletters my job is to deliver information that is hopefully useful for your businesses or it brings additional perspective and information to enhance what you already know and practice. I believe this very subject is one of them since we , as human beings make this sort of errors in perception and therefore judgement of others and make decisions that not only damages other human beings but as it relates to our business environment certainly creates a negative impact and therefore a setback. When we evaluate performance, behavior or attitudes, we are too quick to jump to conclusions and fail to see the good instead of the bad and make irreversible decisions. As we get to know people, whatever we discover becomes inventory of qualities of that individual that we have an opportunity to take stock in. The reason is, when you start all over with someone new, you take a chance on a complete unknown as opposed to a developed check list that incorporates the good, the bad and the ugly. Now we have an opportunity to capitalize on the good and perhaps develop and improve the bad and put some make up on the ugly. It is magical to feel the sense of relief and accomplishment when we are able to transform our thoughts to an uplifting state and either save someone or at a minimum our own souls.
Auto retail industry continues to suffer from disconnected employee and customer relationships in a context that is defined and accepted in our society today. We do very little to develop and grow people as we continuously spend exorbitant amounts of money in marketing which is designed to drive prospects like herd. Time has been long over due to start investing in our people and in our relationships.
Stay well,
Arlan
