Guidance or hopes?

Regardless of the organization delivering the information, it behooves all of us to ask: Are they delivering guidance or hoping for a specific outcome?

This is different than whether or not the bringer of information has malintent. For instance, an organization that believes marketing will look a certain way for brands in the future may staff people who authentically believe that. They believe that marketing will look that way, and they believe that the world will be better if more teams adopt that approach.

But when they deliver guidance on how to operate to their subscribers, they aren’t objectively interpreting the situation any longer. They have a point-of-view as to what the world should be, not merely what it will be. They’re not sharing guidance so much as their hopes.

That’s fine.

But we have to recognize that.

Nearly everyone has some kind of ulterior motive. They just don’t always appear on the surface level, and the very name or stated purpose of the organization or person might further hide the fact that they’re invested in a specific outcome happening, and happening faster … regardless of the objective truth.

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Jay Acunzo