Managing in the Gray

What Will Work in the World as It Is?

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Perceptions matter critically, regardless of how you play

hardball. If you want to be effective in the world as it is, you

have to think carefully about what others think. Perceptions

matter in the moment, as they did in Friedman’s meeting with

Fletcher. They also matter afterwards, when people report

on whatever you say and do. As these reports circulate, they

strengthen or weaken your credibility, authority, and power.

Of course, in an ideal world and in the best of organizations,

substance dominates perception. But in the world as it often

is, optics carry the day. The crucial question isn’t what you say

but what others hear, think, feel, remember, and act on.

Playing hardball and managing percepti ...