Knowing What's Going On

Are not we all humans trying to make sense out of the world around us and the world within us, and doing the best we can?

When someone says something to you, do you automatically believe them? Or do you automatically disbelieve them? Or do you think about what they said, and make a choice? Or something else?

Having lived through several corporate acquisitions, on the side being acquired, I've alway been amazed at the presumption that things employees like won't change. I've seen employees ask the CEO point blank, "will such-and-such change in the new company?" And I've seen that CEO answer with a straight face, "No, that will not change."

And every time that happens, I know that the CEO cannot know whether it will change or not because the CEO will no longer be making that decision. Hearing that answer shakes my faith in everything else that CEO may say.

I look around, and see people who take him at his word. And they believe him even more, because he's giving them an answer that they want to be true.

Would you rather receive a comforting lie, or a troubling truth?

If you're being told that someone likes you, perhaps the comforting lie is sufficient in that situation. If you're trying to make decisions about your financial future, you might make better decisions with that troubling truth.

And now for something even more troubling. I say that I know that the CEO cannot know whether it will change or not, but I cannot know that for sure. I believe it to be true. My past experience supports it being true.

It could be that the CEO has spoken with the acquiring CEO and received a promise that the status quo in question will be maintained by the acquiring company. I've not yet heard a CEO of a company being acquired make such a specific assurance. It's always a broad assurance that things will not change.

You can find many quotes of famous people on the inevitability of change. From that, I would bet that the policy in question will change, and it's just a question of when and in what way. Even if the CEO of the acquiring company has made a promise, that CEO may not be able to make good on that promise in the long run.

And that's true even when people are operating in good faith. If they're trying to fool you, the situation is much more complicated.

Have you thought about the ways you separate truth from fiction? Can you think of times when you were wrong about that? Did you learn from those times? Are you still likely to make the same errors?

I can answer "yes" to all of those questions, so I'm still working at trying to make sense out of the world around me.

P.S. How do you separate truth from fiction?

I would appreciate it if you could reply with your strategies, or your frustrations, on this topic.

And if you'd like to talk further about this it, you could schedule a Zoom Session with me to talk about it.

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