By Oluwole Dada
There is the tendency for anyone or in particular, a leader to arrive quickly at a conclusion on a matter before having the whole picture. I would admit that I have fallen short of this standard sometimes. We have passed judgements, delivered verdicts, and made decisions, all based on one side of a story, and the damage, in many cases, was irreversible.
The Yorubas of the Southwest part of Nigeria have a saying that has stayed with me for years: it is a wicked elder who passes judgement based on only one side of the story. I did not fully appreciate the weight of those words until it was witnessed many times around my personal life and career.
An event happened at Starbucks in April 2018. Two Black men were sitting in a Philadelphia store, waiting for a business associate, when a store manager called the police because they had not ordered anything. The men were arrested in full view of other customers. What followed was a public relations catastrophe that forced the company to close over 8,000 stores across the United States for a day for racial bias training.
This cost tens of millions of dollars. At its core was a manager who made a snap judgement. The manager was not necessarily a bad person, but he acted on an incomplete picture. He did not pause. He did not ask. He did not seek the whole perspective.
A moment’s impulse triggered a crisis that took years to repair. One perspective. One call. Devastating consequences, not just for those two men, but for the brand, the company’s reputation, and thousands of employees caught in the fallout. Vulnerability to this mistake occur when actions are taken on impulse. It happens when you hear something, and you move based on that alone.
A complaint is received, and a reaction is next. You get a whisper from a fellow colleague, and you used that to take a decision. Speed, sometimes, feels like strength, but in this particular arena, speed without perspective is not strength.
Some businesses have failed because the single perspective being presented was not just limited but was false. The contract that looked airtight was only viewed through the lens of one party’s counsel. The financial report that looked healthy was only reviewed through the eyes of the person preparing it. The project that seemed on track was only assessed through the update given by the one person with something to hide.
The story of Enron is perhaps the most dramatic corporate illustration of this truth. The leadership team and critically, the board kept receiving a single, polished narrative of financial health and market dominance.
Those who might have offered a different perspective were marginalized or ignored. The fuller picture, the one being kept from the room, was one of catastrophic fraud. When it finally broke, it wiped out billions of dollars of value, destroyed thousands of pension funds, and sent executives to prison. A culture that heard only one side enabled one of the greatest corporate collapses in history. You will not always be dealing with fraud, but you will deal with people who shade the truth to protect themselves, to settle scores, or simply because they genuinely cannot see beyond their own perspective. Your protection against all of this is the same principle: seek the whole picture.
You may be leading a team of six in a back-office function or managing a department of thirty in a manufacturing plant. This principle applies to you as well. A team member comes to you visibly frustrated and reports that a colleague has been uncooperative, difficult, and obstructive. They are convincing. They are emotional. And you believe them because why would they lie?
However, I have learnt the hard way that sincerity is not the same as accuracy. Someone can genuinely believe their version of events and still be telling you only a fraction of the truth. Not out of malice but because we all, by default, experience the world from our own vantage point.
When you make the habit of seeking the full perspective before you act, the savings are real, measurable, and far-reaching. Having the full picture enables you to save financially. A wrong decision rooted in incomplete information will cost organizations money. You save professionally because your reputation as a fair, thorough, and trustworthy leader is built not in your moments of boldness, but in your moments of restraint. You also save relationships.
A wrong decision based on an incomplete story can fracture many professional and personal partnerships. When you refused to move until you were sure you had the whole story, people notice. They trust the leader who listens fully far more than they trust the one who acts quickly.
In closing, when someone brings you a complaint about another person, resist the immediate urge to act. Thank them. Listen carefully. And then before you do anything else, make it your business to hear from the other party directly, without prejudging what you will find.
Approach that second conversation with an open mind, not a prepared verdict. When you receive information that will inform a significant decision, a strategic choice, or a commercial agreement, ask yourself: whose voice is absent from this room? Who has a stake in this that I have not heard from? What does the other side of this argument look like? This may cost you time, but it will save you far more than it will ever cost you.
Oluwole Dada is the General Manager at SecureID Limited, Africa’s largest smart card manufacturing plant in Lagos, Nigeria.
