A Leader Who Assumed – The Men in White

Posted August 27th, 2007

Jack Brooks of Pipeline Control and Services told me a funny story about what happens to a leader who assumes. A building contractor needed some painters and went to a area where day laborers waited on someone to hire them. Hardly any of the laborers spoke English and the contractor only spoke English.

However, there were five men dressed in white. The contractor knew painters wore white work clothes, so he motioned for all five of them to get in his truck. There was a building that needed painting, and he believed five men could get most of the work done in one day.

He took them to the building and the men got all the paint and equipment out of the truck. He motioned for them to get to work. They looked at him, then nodded and smiled. The contractor, satisfied he had addressed this issue, drove away and headed to his other jobs.

When he came back, after a few hours, he got upset. The five men had only painted a small part of the building. All of them were very careful and particular. All the work was very neat and clean, but the contractor expected production.

The contractor found a translator and told the translator to find out why the painters were so slow. The translator talked with the painters, looked over at the contractor, and the painters and the translators started laughing.

This did not make the contractor any happier. The translator said, “Forgive me, senor, but these men are not painters. They are cooks!” The contractor also had to laugh. What can we learn from the contractor about assuming?

This entry was posted on Monday, August 27th, 2007 at 2:18 pm and is filed under Leadership.