We’re always interested in helping our clients understand the difference between “the way they say things are” and “the way things actually are”. We find that there is often a gap between the two. This can come from our desire to see things they way they should be or it could be due to factors we don’t yet understand. The one thing that is clear is that it does something to our performance. It causes us to play on a field built on partial truths.
MIT’s Sloan Business review talks about this phenomenon as it applies to putting your customer first. Interesting reading for leaders reflecting on the degree to which their business is actually focused on their customer.