Leadership Wisdom of the Week #6

“As each thing appears to me, so it is for me; and as it appears to you, so it is for you.”

– Socrates (Theaetetus, Plato)

This week’s quote takes us back to ancient Greece. It always fascinates me to realise how similar we human beings are to our forefathers from a couple of thousand years ago, even though the world around us has changed quite significantly.

The quote comes from a deeply philosophical dialogue on the nature of knowledge, where Socrates refers to knowledge as perception: a wind can be cold to me and warm to you, depending on how we experience it.

For managers, this quote is a strong reminder of the importance of empathy and of being willing to understand how different people perceive the things we are working with. A strategic target may be clear and meaningful to me as a manager, but is it necessarily so for all team members? A change may feel inevitable in my opinion, but is it seen the same way by others in the organisation? Collaboration and information-sharing may feel natural to me, but do others view these ways of working in the same way?

It is through two-way communication and continuous dialogue that we gain a shared understanding of how we perceive the current situation and how we want to move forward. This requires us, as managers, first to clearly communicate our own perceptions and thoughts, and second to truly listen, ask questions, and aim to understand those of others. Assuming that others know what we mean—or that we know what others mean—can easily lead to misunderstandings that prevent us from moving forward together.