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When I was younger, I went with some friends to a party; this was pre–Google Maps, Waze, etc.
Sitting in the back seat, I heard them discussing the directions and something about, “Are we going west?” It was around 5 p.m., so I looked up, saw the sun behind us, and said, “We’re going east.” They very quickly and strongly disagreed. I was in my 20s and wasn’t driving, so whatever.
Surprise! This former Girl Scout knew that when the sun is behind you in the afternoon, you’re going east because the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Later, I was told I should have been more forceful in my declaration. But I was young.
As I look back on it now, I realize that as friends and managers, we need to not only be able to express ourselves in a way that people can understand, but we also need to be better listeners.
How often have we been in meetings where we move forward with ideas from the loudest voices, but quieter contributors are quickly squashed without being fully vetted? As a manager, we need to recognize that those ideas might be the ones that save us from driving/working in circles.
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