Leadership Step by Step

CHAPTER 5

Write Others’ Beliefs

I ran into a friend, Christine, in Central Park. She worked at a small consulting firm. We hadn’t seen each other in a while, so we caught up. She told me how she looked forward to her next assignment—a two-person strategy project in Mexico City. She was studying Spanish and looked forward to immersing herself in the language. I was glad for her but didn’t think much of it.

I saw her again a couple months later. “How was Mexico City?” I asked.

“It’s weird,” she said. “We haven’t gone. The project keeps getting delayed. Things keep coming up.” Again, I didn’t think much of it and we moved on to other topics.

The next time we crossed paths, a few months later, I asked again about Mexico City.

“I finally found out ...