Ever wonder why people do what they do?

Many times we look at a situation and think, “How did I get here? It makes no sense!” Recently, there was a situation in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where two imminently qualified and respected people had a confrontation that left both people baffled and angry about the other’s reaction. I’m referring to the encounter between Professor Gates and Officer Crowley. The officer had responded to a call involving a possible break-in. When he arrived at the house, he encountered the professor, asked for his ID and found that Mr. Gates lived at that address. Officer Crowley began his procedures to report to the precinct, gathering what he felt was appropriate information. This is where the situation began to unravel.

The two men ended up in an argument. When you read the accounts, it appears either man could have ended it but neither one wanted to. This led to the professor’s arrest and then the DA dropping charges for lack of evidence of any crime being committed. The Mayor of Cambridge, the Governor of Massachusetts, and the President of the United States all jumped in on the professor’s side while the police chief and law enforcement agencies around the country came to the officer’s defense.

The First Law of Performance explains how situations like this one can happen. The Law is “How people perform correlates to how situations occur to them.” The professor viewed the situation as being driven by the fact that he was an African-American. It occurred to him this way because we have a history of centuries of discrimination against people of color. After all, this man was in his own house and already had produced ID proving that it was his house. and yet there was no apology from the officer.

The officer had the situation occur to him from a completely different perspective. He had just risked his life to protect the owner of this house from loss of property. Maybe worse, the risk was made more significant because the officer had a wife and children depending on him. From his perspective, the homeowner didn’t even thank him for protecting his home from the numerous local break-ins. Both sides are understandable when viewing it from each person’s perspective.

The book is thorough, clear, and practical. It helps the reader understand that how situations occur to people can cause dramatically different interpretations. The authors also maintain that it is this phenomenon that holds organizations back. It explains why sales and service seem to always be fighting or why accounting rarely can get the cooperation it needs from the departments it is working with. The solution is in the next two laws

I highly recommend this book to anyone who needs to work with people from other departments, organizations or different life experiences. That would include all of us!