The volunteers thought the conference should be a 'professional conference', serious and intense. They felt the 'fun factor' diminished their abilities in the eyes of the leaders. The volunteers were more focused on what they thought people perceived without every researching or evaluating why leaders and professionals came.

Their belief in their perceptions prevented the volunteers from enhancing the conference. Their perceptions prevented them from asking "How can we use our assets, to build a more effective network and leverage those relationships for more opportunities for our members?" Their assets: having diverse leaders and professionals attend the confe

If you leave an organization because you do not want to work the hours, or because you no longer choose to live in a suit, do you blame your decision on lack of opportunity, or do you think you made a positive choice for you and your family? There are woman who choose to stay and move up the ranks, that is their choice and they reap those rewards. You can choose differently for different reasons.

When I speak around the country to different groups, I often hear how perceptions color experiences. I see it in young people; often they feel that they are not being taken seriously, or that people perceive that they are 'bad'. They want be taken seriously no matter how they dress, speak or participate within a group. They don't want to change, but they want you to change how you perceive them. Life just doesn't work that way.

I recently spoke to a minority conference committee of mid level managers who volunteered for their professional association. They were adamant that this year they did not want to 'have fun' at their conference, because they wanted to be perceived as serious and career oriented. They felt that too many professionals and leaders from other divisions, groups and ethnicities were coming to their conference because it was 'fun', and that 'those' people would perceive their group as not being career oriented, focused, accomplished and smart.

A group of consultants and senior management leaders who heard their rationale were stunned. These senior leaders were stunned because the perceptions of the volunteers were opposite of how they, the leaders, felt.

Senior leaders thought the minority professional association conference was a winner because so many different people attended. They held the conference as an example for others. If people are choosing to come (given all the demands on their time), the organizers are doing something right!

The volunteers thought that it was terrible that the leaders and senior staff came because the conference was fun.

Senior leaders thought the volunteer organizers had been creative and strategic about marketing past conferences. Making the events fun, on purpose, in order to market and reach diverse leaders while providing outstanding workshops.

The volunteers thought the conference should be a 'professional conference', serious and intense. They felt the 'fun factor' diminished their abilities in the eyes of the leaders. The volunteers were more focused on what they thought people perceived without every researching or evaluating why leaders and professionals came.

Their belief in their perceptions prevented the volunteers from enhancing the conference. Their perceptions prevented them from asking "How can we use our assets, to build a more effective network and leverage those relationships for more opportunities for our members?" Their assets: having diverse leaders and professionals attend the confer

If you leave an organization because you do not want to work the hours, or because you no longer choose to live in a suit, do you blame your decision on lack of opportunity, or do you think you made a positive choice for you and your family? There are woman who choose to stay and move up the ranks, that is their choice and they reap those rewards. You can choose differently for different reasons.

When I speak around the country to different groups, I often hear how perceptions color experiences. I see it in young people; often they feel that they are not being taken seriously, or that people perceive that they are 'bad'. They want be taken seriously no matter how they dress, speak or participate within a group. They don't want to change, but they want you to change how you perceive them. Life just doesn't work that way.

I recently spoke to a minority conference committee of mid level managers who volunteered for their professional association. They were adamant that this year they did not want to 'have fun' at their conference, because they wanted to be perceived as serious and career oriented. They felt that too many professionals and leaders from other divisions, groups and ethnicities were coming to their conference because it was 'fun', and that 'those' people would perceive their group as not being career oriented, focused, accomplished and smart.

A group of consultants and senior management leaders who heard their rationale were stunned. These senior leaders were stunned because the perceptions of the volunteers were opposite of how they, the leaders, felt.

Senior leaders thought the minority professional association conference was a winner because so many different people attended. They held the conference as an example for others. If people are choosing to come (given all the demands on their time), the organizers are doing something right!

The volunteers thought that it was terrible that the leaders and senior staff came because the conference was fun.

Senior leaders thought the volunteer organizers had been creative and strategic about marketing past conferences. Making the events fun, on purpose, in order to market and reach diverse leaders while providing outstanding workshops.

The volunteers thought the conference should be a 'professional conference', serious and intense. They felt the 'fun factor' diminished their abilities in the eyes of the leaders. The volunteers were more focused on what they thought people perceived without every researching or evaluating why leaders and professionals came.

Their belief in their perceptions prevented the volunteers from enhancing the conference. Their perceptions prevented them from asking "How can we use our assets, to build a more effective network and leverage those relationships for more opportunities for our members?" Their assets: having diverse leaders and professionals attend the confe

I recently spoke to a minority conference committee of mid level managers who volunteered for their professional association. They were adamant that this year they did not want to 'have fun' at their conference, because they wanted to be perceived as serious and career oriented. They felt that too many professionals and leaders from other divisions, groups and ethnicities were coming to their conference because it was 'fun', and that 'those' people would perceive their group as not being career oriented, focused, accomplished and smart.

A group of consultants and senior management leaders who heard their rationale were stunned. These senior leaders were stunned because the perceptions of the volunteers were opposite of how they, the leaders, felt.

Senior leaders thought the minority professional association conference was a winner because so many different people attended. They held the conference as an example for others. If people are choosing to come (given all the demands on their time), the organizers are doing something right!

The volunteers thought that it was terrible that the leaders and senior staff came because the conference was fun.

Senior leaders thought the volunteer organizers had been creative and strategic about marketing past conferences. Making the events fun, on purpose, in order to market and reach diverse leaders while providing outstanding workshops.

The volunteers thought the conference should be a 'professional conference', serious and intense. They felt the 'fun factor' diminished their abilities in the eyes of the leaders. The volunteers were more focused on what they thought people perceived without every researching or evaluating why leaders and professionals came.

Their belief in their perceptions prevented the volunteers from enhancing the conference. Their perceptions prevented them from asking "How can we use our assets, to build a more effective network and leverage those relationships for more opportunities for our members?" Their assets: having diverse leaders and professionals attend the confe

Senior leaders thought the minority professional association conference was a winner because so many different people attended. They held the conference as an example for others. If people are choosing to come (given all the demands on their time), the organizers are doing something right!

The volunteers thought that it was terrible that the leaders and senior staff came because the conference was fun.

Senior leaders thought the volunteer organizers had been creative and strategic about marketing past conferences. Making the events fun, on purpose, in order to market and reach diverse leaders while providing outstanding workshops.

The volunteers thought the conference should be a 'professional conference', serious and intense. They felt the 'fun factor' diminished their abilities in the eyes of the leaders. The volunteers were more focused on what they thought people perceived without every researching or evaluating why leaders and professionals came.

Their belief in their perceptions prevented the volunteers from enhancing the conference. Their perceptions prevented them from asking "How can we use our assets, to build a more effective network and leverage those relationships for more opportunities for our members?" Their assets: having diverse leaders and professionals attend the confe

The volunteers thought the conference should be a 'professional conference', serious and intense. They felt the 'fun factor' diminished their abilities in the eyes of the leaders. The volunteers were more focused on what they thought people perceived without every researching or evaluating why leaders and professionals came.

Their belief in their perceptions prevented the volunteers from enhancing the conference. Their perceptions prevented them from asking "How can we use our assets, to build a more effective network and leverage those relationships for more opportunities for our members?" Their assets: having diverse leaders and professionals attend the conference because they enjoyed the conference.

It was the organizers own perceptions and later their decisions based on those perceptions that sabotaged their conference. They marketed the conference as serious and career oriented. Attendance went down; they complained that the senior management and members of other groups and divisions did not support them. They never took responsibility for their own actions based on their negative perceptions.

In a global market you need to be careful about your perceptions and how you may be sabotaging yourself and opportunities in the world.

My daughter and mother are traveling through India. They are in a small town in the Himalayas. My daughter experienced altitude sickness and was rushed to the local hospital. I didn't hear about the episode until three days later. I learned that she had three shots and six hours of oxygen. Andi has never been sick in her life; she waited to go the other side of the world to get sick. What was fascinating to me was how people, in my network, were concerned about the quality of care she received. Without knowing where she was, without knowing anything about the health care system, people had perceptions about the quality of care. They perceived that she received poor quality care. They based their perceptions on media images and stories.

Meanwhile, my daughter and mom wrote glowing emails about the quality of care and the hospital staff. Here are two drastically different perceptions. My family chose the more positive and optimistic perception based on real data. The result was one very calm Mom and Dad (my husband and I). Andi is okay and loves being in India. If you live in India, thank you for welcoming my family to your country.

Dr. Lisa Whitten and Dr. Linda Anderson wrote "The Psychology of African-American Success: The Internal Dialogue". In the article they stated, "if the negative self-statements (perceptions) are not acknowledged, understood or resolved, they can lead to self-sabotaging behaviors and attitudes. These behaviors and attitudes are usually out of your awareness. Moreover, some of the negative self-statements appear perfectly rational and reasonable, because they are sometimes reflected in the folk wisdom of your [African-American] communities. These notions are often unquestioned and therefore accepted by many people. For example, John Ogbu, Ph.D. an anthropologist has studied barriers to achievement motivation among African-American high school students, pointing to the perception that students who are "smart" are "acting white" or "think they are white."

They go on to discuss that if a person perceives that that they will be ostracized from their group for behaving differently, they will sabotage their own desires to change and achieve.

When I was living in the Bronx and was hanging around with a rough crowd, people perceived me as being crazy, mean and violent. When I walked with my friends people passing us would walk to the other side of the street.