Perception is everything, part duex

After re-reading my previous post about the fluid, fickle nature of perception, I realized that all of my examples were negative — favorable perceptions that soured over time.

I do have an example of a negative perception that, while still not positive, turned softer upon reflection.

I once had a terrible, terrible, truly horrific boss. I don’t know this manager well as a person, but as a professional, the person was insecure, demoralizing, devious, scheming, thin-skinned, and above all, thoroughly incompetent — really the worst combination of traits you could ask for in a boss. Though under the person’s custody for less than a year, the experience scarred me personally and professionally. I would never make the mistake of working for the person again.

That said, I can now look back and see that why the manager responded so viscerally to me. I understand my part in the relationship, what the manager was reacting to in me, especially given the person’s own history and personality. I wasn’t the model employee and probably deserved some of the grief I got working there.

That doesn’t mean the former manager was always in the right, but the person wasn’t always wrong, either. Being ineffective and mean, in other words, doesn’t make you evil incarnate.