We often get trapped in our biased views and our limited perspectives. And we often complain that we are not provided with growth opportunities and the work context is so constrained that we cannot progress in our career. And we always look up on the career ladder. But what if we look sideways and make a lateral move? Can we grow (maybe faster) from a lateral move or we always need to follow the “known” growth path?

I was strolling this morning in the park, as I usually do every early morning. And the dog walked me to this tree (you may figure out why). If a tree can grow though it was cut, why we cannot do the same as humans?

If a tree, with no chance of growing, had the power and will to grow from a lateral tiny bud, why can’t we?

I am a true believer that sometimes we need to open our minds and find opportunities in lateral,  growing our spectrum of capabilities and making us stronger and more valuable in the future.

Never assume! Never assume! Never assume!

My first lesson in the corporate world. I was quite young, and I was leaving Romania for the second time for a job. After one year in Paris, I landed in the beautiful city of Limassol in the amazing island of Cyprus. No one would associate Cyprus with technology. Neither did I.

But here I was, in a 1000+ engineering Cypriot site of Amdocs close to the new port of the city. First day in the office, the 25 batch of new employees are starting induction. All in the same room, all eyes pointed to the senior lady in front of us.

Written BIG on the white board with black marker – NEVER ASSUME!

Silence, no questions. The senior lady did not say anything. Neither did we. Awkward silence in the room.

After a couple of minutes of intense weird moments, the senior lady started reading what was on the board: “NEVER ASSUME. Why we should never assume?” Again, moments of silence.

“Because whenever you assume, you put an ASS between U and ME”. BANG!!! Lesson of my life. Not really at that particular moment. But this came with more explanations and life experiences from her and how asking questions at the right time on the important topics may solve difficult situations in the future which we would face if we’ve just assumed.

When I first started to work for Amdocs on client sites, interacting with senior business leaders from the client, I was afraid or too shy to ask questions. So, I was filtering their requirements and their asks through my own simple junior understanding. And oh, how I’ve got burnt and no bonus that year. And as a flashback it came to my mind – NEVER ASSUME, such a good lesson.

Does this mean we should never trust anyone and anything? Of course not, we should be able to trust but we should also be able to verify our assumptions. People make assumptions in everything we do, otherwise nothing would get done. But we should be more cautious when it comes to more important assumptions.

So, NEVER ASSUME.

PS: I love sneakers (sport shoes, not chocolate). I do have a large collection, no preferred brand. But when I found these, I did not hesitate for a second and I bought them. So, now I am wearing my favorite quote quite often 😊