The better we know someone, the easier it is to make assumptions.  While many may be correct, it’s the ones that are incorrect that can cause a problem.  They can lead to someone going down an unexpected path.  This is so often the case when we are sharing messages with family members in business.  Because we’ve known them for so many years, we assume they understand what we’re saying.  But what if they don’t?  What if their interpretation of what we say is very different from what we intended it to be?

The old fashion technique of “active listening” is one cure.  If we simply repeat, in our own words, what we believe we heard, we give our family partner a chance to clarify the message and eliminate that curse learned about “ass u me” back in grammar school.