There Are Three Sides to Every Story

After 50, most of your communication problems aren’t about skill.
They’re about assumption.
By now, you’ve led teams, closed deals, and navigated your share of tough conversations. You know how to communicate - that’s not the issue. The issue is what happens after you speak.

There are always three sides to every conversation:

• What was said.

• What was heard.

• And what was actually meant.

And the gap between those three? That’s where trust breaks, deals stall, and relationships start to drift.

I saw this play out last year between two business partners I’ve known for years.
Their business was successful and doing well by every measure.
One said, “We need to bring in outside leadership to scale.”
What he meant was “We’ve taken this as far as we can alone. Let’s level up.”

What his partner heard was “You’re not good enough anymore.”

The result… No argument. No blow-up.

But from that moment on, things changed.

• Decisions slowed.

• Conversations got shorter.

• Second-guessing crept in.

One started protecting his position, while the other started questioning the partnership.

And just like that, all their momentum dropped, growth stalled, and exit value took a hit.

Not because of a change in strategy, downturn in the business, or competition - because of interpretation!

This is the trap we must avoid in the 4th Quarter.

• We rely on experience.

• We shortcut conversations.

• We assume alignment.

But experience doesn’t eliminate blind spots - it reinforces them.

You think you’re being clear…
But they think you’re changing the deal.

Remember: Listening isn’t waiting to talk - It’s verifying what landed.

I recommend starting to incorporate things like this in your conversations, 

“Let me make sure I’ve got this right…”
“When you say that, what do you mean?”
“Here’s how I’m hearing it…”

They’re simple, but most people skip them because they feel unnecessary. Or worse, inefficient.
They’re not.

In the 4th Quarter, misalignment isn’t a small mistake - it can become a huge liability.

If you’re not checking for understanding, you’re gambling with trust.

And at this stage, trust is the whole game.