Is it a fact or is it a story?

Johnny hasn’t reported for work since Monday. That’s a fact.

Johnny may have already left the company and worked for the competitor. Now that’s a story, unless proven otherwise.

There’s a big difference between a fact and a story, but the two get confused often in the workplace.

A fact is something that can be objectively verified by any person. It’s irrefutable. A story, by contrast, is something we create to make sense of the facts. A story can’t be taken as a fact until all evidences point to it as being so.

People tend to make up stories because we crave for meaning. We want to understand, we want things to make sense. Often, however, we’re so quick to tell our stories that we mistake them for facts and treat them as if they’re undeniably true. What’s worse is when people fabricate stories, and use mass media to promote it and present it as fact. Sadly, this same thing happens in the workplace.

It’s a fact that there are business executives who aren’t performing their duties very well. But rather than working harder and improving themselves, they create stories about how bad upper management treats them and how greedy the business owners are. See how stories are created out of facts? The fact is that they’re not performing well; the stories they fabricate try to rationalize their poor performance. This can lead to disastrous results.

Sentiments may be aroused, factions may be created and resignations may be filed when facts and stories mix and gullible people cannot distinguish one from the other.

Scheming people prey on people’s emotions. Gallup Polls have revealed that Filipinos are the most emotional people in the world. Scheming people buy the emotional ones food and drinks, sob their stories to them, and pretty soon the former would have a base of followers believing their stories without concern for the facts. You and I are not exempted from this blind spot.

Awareness can reduce this weakness. Awareness can powerfully diminish our tendency to react without sorting out the facts. We need to be very curious and conscious about how we respond to stories.

When our mind is saying “I’m hungry”, stand back and rationalize, “I had a heavy breakfast this morning, so how come I’m hungry? Perhaps I’m not really hungry, I’m simply thirsty.” Do you know that many people overeat because they simply mistake thirst for hunger? When our feelings are telling us a story that “The guy is a jerk,” or “I’m not treated fairly,” we should stand back, try to suspend our negative emotions, and rationalize and evaluate the situation. “Maybe I don’t know the person well enough,” or “Maybe that’s just his personality,” or “Maybe I need to work on myself more and improve my work in order to get that promotion.”

When we shift our perspectives, we bring in the power of choice.

We can’t change the facts, but we can control our choices. We can choose to change a faulty story into a good and truthful one. We can also control the stories we choose to tell ourselves.

Do your homework, and stick to the truth all the time. Don’t’ just believe stories without confirming the facts.

Facts and stories aren’t necessarily the same. This is why slander and gossip will never make a person grow in character and righteousness. But truth will. And this is a FACT!

(Leadership skills are life skills. Spend two whole days with Francis Kong discovering the beauty of both on November 21-22 at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. For further inquiries, contact Inspire at 09158055910, or call 632-6310912 for details.)