What We Get Wrong About Understanding Each Other

A note to young leaders.

People who excel at relationships have all arrived at this hard-won truth.

The reason we argue, fight, and grow so easily frustrated with each other is not because we don’t understand each other – it’s because we think we can.

We believe that if we just try a little harder, listen a little more carefully, walk another mile in someone else’s shoes – we will finally understand them.

But empathy at best gets us (maybe) halfway to understanding another human being. The rest will always remain a mystery.

Once you accept that others, to a very considerable degree, will always remain unknown to you – you’ll stop being so wounded when they act in ways you didn’t expect.

And – if you’re crossing a bridge where every second rung is missing, what should you do?

Tread softly.