Read the Rest of the Book. -Ryan Berner

Read the Rest of the Book

Have you ever read a book that is masterfully written?  Have you read that book and noticed minor inconsistencies?  It is a very common occurrence in most popular books, fiction or non-fiction. For centuries people have debated inconsistencies of even the most known pieces of literature, including even the Bible. However, what you may lose in these minor lapses is all but forgotten in the overall story and message the author is portraying. A book can still go on to be a best-seller, challenge the way we as readers think or even change the course of the world. The point being; pages may be written differently but they are all part of the same story and are, without each individual page, an incomplete piece of work.

Sometimes our employees feel like an insignificant page in the company’s story.  Sometimes their ideas are inconsistent with our own. Our challenge as managers is to decide whether their differences are crafting the company’s story into a masterpiece or distracting from the company’s narrative altogether.  What our challenge IS NOT, is to rip up the page because it’s inconsistent with our own.

How do we distinguish between the two? Simple.  Read the rest of the book. Know the depth and vast of your company’s message.  Too often we make the mistake of ripping up the page before we know it’s relevance to the story.  Just don’t read it too late.  One bad page can quickly turn your masterpiece into a dud and your book will be no more useful than kindling.

Ryan Berner

July, 2016