[November 08, 2014] I can just see it now … those who’ve spent time as leaders are recalling the many times their words were misinterpreted. It seems that no matter how hard we may try, someone will get the wrong impression about what you say or write. I don’t know whether this is human nature or not but it should be expected. While this is a problem and is challenging to overcome, the biggest problem leaders’ face is their own failure to appreciate how quickly what we say will be misinterpreted. This can be important.
If we were to list the top five mistakes that leaders make, one would be not realizing that our words will be misinterpreted. I remember many discussions with senior leaders who specifically talked about this issue and what was being done to overcome it. They recognized that such a misunderstanding would occur no matter how clear and precise the language used and then specifically planned a response. Thus, knowing someone will misinterpret our words, extra care can be taken by putting our words into writing, rewording another way, and through others reinforcing our words.
Historians are in general agreement that one of the main causes of the Cold War between the United States and the Western world, on the one hand, and the Soviet Union and their allies on the other, was due to a misinterpretation of each of their words and actions. While there was no classic warfare that occurred between the two factions, there were a number of proxy wars and huge expenditures of capital to maintain diplomatic, information, military, and economic systems to protect themselves. Since the formation of the Soviet Union in 1917, this conflict resulted in the outlay of blood and treasure that exceeded all other human endeavor since that time (with the exception of World War II).
Despite extraordinary efforts, the Cold War and its consequences still affect us today. That misinterpretation will haunt the world for many more years as it still does. Therefore, it is no trivial matter for leaders to ignore that leaders’ words will be misinterpreted. Recognizing this will occur and having an aggressive plan of action to overcome it, is a good start.
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