Assumptions

Assumptions form the foundation of business action: mere hypotheses regarded as "reality" about the market, the customer, competitors, partners or colleagues. Some of these assumptions are simply necessary to make decisions, while others cause trouble more than anything else. Perhaps the most influential assumption is about the intentions of other people. How would our work lives look like if we were to accept the following statement?

"Each and every person does the best they know / can do at any given time even if what they do is not necessarily acceptable or nice"

This is not an invitation to tolerate any and all behavior, but simply a way to accept it as forming part of the environment and to react to it with peaceful determination.

I think this would have been a useful resource to a couple of entrepreneurs I met over the past few days; it woudl have helped them deal with investors and government officials supposed to support them... I think it is a useful resource for many of us. trying to apply this rule, I have found it to be tremendously empowering.