Two incidents come to mind with your point about people understanding things differently. I once used the word "plastic" in its classic sense of being flexible. My listeners, having a different frame of reference than I, thought "plastic" means cheap or artificial. That's just the way words evolve, and I had missed the boat. Another incident is from the old movie The Yakuza. The main character understands a little Japanese, and is speaking to a Yakuza member. The Yakuza asks him if he knows what the word "bushido" means, and the main character correctly, but insufficiently, translates it as "path". "No," the Japanese character says, "It means burden."
Also, of course, I'm the jerk who sometimes insists on saying the truth at a meeting and embarrassing the boss. I remember one meeting where our big boss said, "We have to accomplish A, B, and C. Each of those is a full-time task."
Naturally I asked, "Which one has priority?"
"They all have priority," he responded.
"Then you're telling us at the lowest level to make the decision of which one gets done."
Pointing out that he was abdicating his own leadership position and putting it on us did not make me popular with him, but my fellow workers appreciated it and came to view me as a leader.
Two incidents come to mind with your point about people understanding things differently. I once used the word "plastic" in its classic sense of being flexible. My listeners, having a different frame of reference than I, thought "plastic" means cheap or artificial. That's just the way words evolve, and I had missed the boat. Another incident is from the old movie The Yakuza. The main character understands a little Japanese, and is speaking to a Yakuza member. The Yakuza asks him if he knows what the word "bushido" means, and the main character correctly, but insufficiently, translates it as "path". "No," the Japanese character says, "It means burden."
Also, of course, I'm the jerk who sometimes insists on saying the truth at a meeting and embarrassing the boss. I remember one meeting where our big boss said, "We have to accomplish A, B, and C. Each of those is a full-time task."
Naturally I asked, "Which one has priority?"
"They all have priority," he responded.
"Then you're telling us at the lowest level to make the decision of which one gets done."
Pointing out that he was abdicating his own leadership position and putting it on us did not make me popular with him, but my fellow workers appreciated it and came to view me as a leader.