The following story appeared in a recent edition of Leadership Journal.

“A traveler, between flights at an airport, went to a lounge and bought a small package of cookies and a newspaper.  The woman found an empty seat in the gate area and sat down next to a man reading a magazine.  After a couple of minutes she became aware of a rustling noise.  From behind her paper she peeked to see the man sitting next to her helping himself to her cookies.  After the initial shock she decided not to make a scene so she reached over and took a cookie for herself.

A minute or two passed and then came more rustling.  The woman peeked from behind her paper and sure enough, the man was helping himself to another cookie.  Again the woman decided not to make a scene and instead reached over and took two cookies for herself.  This same process occurred several more times until there was one cookie left.  The man broke the cookie in two pieces, ate half, and slid half over to the woman, got up and left.

The woman couldn’t believe the audacity of the man and was still fuming over the whole affair when she boarded her flight.  After takeoff the woman needed something in her purse and when she opened it up the first thing she saw was her package of unopened cookies.”

Our assumptions can be misleading more often than we want to admit!

Continue reading →