MY ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT YOU--THE READER

As a the top leader, it's good to make your assumptions overt.
If you don't --well, you know--people will work to guess them
And they will guess wrong.
If you are blind about your own assumptions, get a sounding board 
fast. You to be able need to see what is writ large in your company.

Here are my assumptions about you the reader:

--You are at Senior level or C-Suite level or  you want to be.

--You understand that your power and role make it hard to

get an accurate read of the pulse of your company

--You think you have a better understanding than you do

--You think because you value opinions and are open that people

   tell you their truth

   

--You have worked on your own development but have not created

   your own approach to alleviate the power differential you carry

--You are a good leader and business person or you wouldn't care   

   enough to read these comments

--You like power and have enough self-awareness to have achieved 

   a top role

--Most people maximize the positive and minimize the negative when

  they talk to you

--By the time you are made aware of an issue it is bigger than

  you would like or bigger than you are told

--The longer you are in the top role, the more skewed your perception 
  may be due to familiarity, habit and people's over adapting to you

--The power dynamics I am talking about get exaggerated during

   tough times

--Blind spots come with the top role regardless of your awareness

--You need to be reminded that you have them 

--You'll know when on hits home for you. Some won't.

--The top job is lonely, is isolating, is ridiculously difficult and
  you often act like it isn't and forget it is

--You are the emperor and you don't have on any clothes and the 

   silence is complete