THE SCOURGE OF SELF-DECEPTION

"Who had deceived thee so often as thyself?"

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman/scientist/philosopher

Makes sense for a couple of reasons.

One, how often do we encounter people who have motive to deceive us?

And two, who thinks about us more than we do ourselves?

REALITY OR PERCEPTION OF REALITY?

"It all depends on how we look at things, and not how they are in themselves."

Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) Swiss psychologist/psychiatrist

This raises an interesting question, one obviously not limited to business.

Is "reality", whatever that is, more important than perception of reality?

There is only one reality but many perceptions of what it is.

I'll go with perception.

I am far more effective as a marketer when I address consumer perception of reality than I will ever be attempting to change what they perceive to be true.

What do you think?

What Is, Not What We See

"The actual, well seen, is the ideal."

Thomas Carlyle

19th century British historian

Said another way, reality recognized for what it truly is is the best we can or should hope for.

I agree.

Management: Virtual Reality

"There are managers so preoccupied with their e-mail messages that they never look up from their screens to see what's happening in the non-digital world."

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Professor of Psychology

No doubt about it the internet is one of the most enabling business tools ever, one with a dark side. 

Consciously or otherwise when managers act as though all they need to know will come from that monitor they face each day, their connection to reality is lost.