The First Law of Performance: How People Perform Correlates to How Situations Appear to Them

There is no one true reality; we all see the world through our own, sometimes distorting, perceptual filters. There is a significant difference between the objective facts of a situation, and how those facts appear to each of us. Well-informed, intelligent people often have a very different take on a situation because of this difference in perception.

Most people don’t realize that their perceptions differ from those of other people. This is their personal reality illusion. People act and talk as if what they perceive is how things really are. In reality, none of us knows all the facts, and we bring to the table different backgrounds of knowledge, experience, bias and preconceived notions.



There is a relationship between performance and how situations appear to people, and this relationship always holds. If someone’s actions make no sense, try asking him or her questions, mostly open-ended, that will provide you with insight into how the situation appears to them. What you might find is that along with developing an understanding for the other person’s perception of the facts, you might change a few of your own. This process will go a long way towards developing trust and cooperation.

Leadership Corollary 1: Leaders have a say, and give others a say in how situations occur.

Adapted from Zaffron, Steve abd Dave Logan. The Three Laws of Performance, Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2009.