First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

by Gallup Press

Myth #2: Some Roles Are So Easy, They Don’t Require Talent The famous management theorist Oscar Wilde once said: “A truth ceases to be a truth as soon as two people perceive it.” All right, so Mr. Wilde was better known for his wit than for his management advice. Nonetheless, every manager should be required to remember this one remark. Although he phrased it in the extreme, Mr. Wilde simply meant that the only truth is your own. The world you see is seen by you alone. What entices you and what repels you, what strengthens you and what weakens you, is part of a pattern that no one else shares. Therefore, as Mr. Wilde said, no two people can perceive the same “truth,” because each person’s perspective is different. This can be both a blessing and a curse. You are blessed with a wonderfully unique filter but cursed with a systematic inability to understand anybody else’s. True individuality can be lonely.