Behind The X's & O's of Business — Understanding people

We see what people do, but we don't always know why they're doing it. The same behavior can come from fear, wisdom, insecurity, experience, loyalty, or something we haven't considered yet. If we're going to understand people better, maybe we need to become a little slower at assigning motives to behavior we can only see from the outside.

It's easy to look at someone's decision and decide what kind of person they are. It's harder to ask what happened before that decision was made. The more conversations I have—and the more stories I pay attention to—the more I realize that understanding people often begins when we become curious about the story behind the choice.