{"id":77,"date":"2011-11-13T12:19:13","date_gmt":"2011-11-13T19:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jsnover.com\/blog\/?p=77"},"modified":"2013-09-22T18:01:42","modified_gmt":"2013-09-23T01:01:42","slug":"rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jsnover.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/13\/rumors\/","title":{"rendered":"On Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

I often get people asking about this or that rumor.\u00a0 Invariably my response is, “I’m sure\u00a0it is\u00a0true but I wouldn’t worry about it”.\u00a0 <\/em>This blog explains that perspective and has nothing to do with any specific rumor.\u00a0 I hope it will help reduce your anxiety the next time you find yourself confronted with a wave of rumors.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rumors in the workplace are as common in corporate America as conference rooms and coffee machines.\u00a0 Sometimes there are more and sometimes there are fewer but, like the poor, they are with us always.\u00a0 When I started in the business, I got pretty wrapped up in the rumor trade, cultivating good sources, tracking the latest gossip and even trying to\u00a0read the tea leaves\u00a0(“Did you notice who sat next to whom at that meeting?”).\u00a0 I got excited when rumors were positive about things that affected me and upset when their future was uncertain.\u00a0 Most of us don’t like change as it brings uncertainty so rumors can be a source of distraction and frustration.\u00a0 I’d worry about my career, my paycheck, my ability to pay the mortgage and stay in our house.\u00a0 As I advanced in my career and got to be more involved with senior leaders in their decision making process, I gained a different perspective on rumors.\u00a0 I thought I would share that perspective with you so that it might help reduce the associated anxiety and allow you can avoid wasting time, energy or emotion when the next rumor comes your way.<\/p>\n

Fact:\u00a0Most rumors are true<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Yup, that’s right, most rumors are true.\u00a0 Even when the rumors contradict each other they are true.\u00a0 The reason for this is that most rumors are of the form, “X is considering doing Y<\/em>“.\u00a0 The key is the word is considering<\/strong>.\u00a0 Well guess what?\u00a0 That is the job of leaders and executives – they consider<\/strong>.\u00a0 We constantly consider as many possibilities and scenarios as possible and then game out our options, potential\u00a0responses and probable outcomes for the business and the people involved.\u00a0 Sometimes those possibilities and scenarios are positive ones but for those of us in the Andy Grove, “Only the Paranoid Survive<\/a>” camp, we usually game out the worst-case scenarios.<\/p>\n