A Management Lesson I Never Forgot

Many years ago, when I was a newly minted manager at the David Sarnoff Research Center, I asked my Director for advice on how to manage my team.  I had already taken several courses on this subject, but he gave me a piece of wisdom that I hadn’t heard before. What he said stayed with me ever since.

He said: “Remember, for everyone you meet, without exception, there is something very important about that individual that you don’t know - and possibly never will.” 

I’ve tried to internalize those words throughout my life, and I highly recommend it to everyone. First, it instills a sense of humility, reminding me not to make sweeping generalizations or quick judgments based on a single encounter. Second, it has become something of a personal quest. When I meet someone, especially for the first time, I recall those words. It is great fun to challenge myself to uncover something intriguing and significant about them. This approach has often led to profound insights.

One example, which I will never forget, comes from when I was a graduate student, supplementing my income by teaching part-time at a local university. Among my students was a sweet and shy young woman who suffered from albinism. She excelled in classroom discussions but consistently failed her exams. I could have let it go, but I couldn’t understand why she performed so poorly.

So I asked her to meet with me.

When we met, I asked her what her difficulty was. She answered that she suffered from albinism and had a common condition of deterioration of the eye. She had little to no pigmentation of her iris, with bright light sensitivity, and an underdeveloped fovea within her retina that made it highly difficult to read or write. She said she understood my lectures and could also see my writing on the chalkboard without much difficulty. She also enjoyed participating in class discussions and had no difficulty with the spoken explanations. But when she had to read the test material on her desk, she needed to use a magnifier to help her see it. This was not a normal magnifier. It looked almost like a small telescope. Her field of view was very limited and would only magnify a small portion of the text at a time. She would have to move the magnifier frequently, interrupting the flow of reading. All of this required additional effort, greatly increasing her cognitive load. So, it took her a great deal of time to read the written questions and write the answers.

I was shocked when I realized that I had indeed seen her using this magnifier but had completely overlooked just how much this slowed her down. Since all the exams were timed at about an hour or two, she never managed to complete even half of them before I collected the papers. I had simply assumed she didn’t know the answers, not understanding the real challenge she faced.

When I collected the tests, she never spoke up.  She never complained.  She never tried to explain. She never cried. And she failed the exams.

And so, when she finally and somewhat reluctantly revealed her problem, I offered to give her all the time she needed to take the exams at a separately scheduled time. She agreed, and she took nearly four hours while others took one. She got a perfect score, giving not only correct answers but thoughtful explanations, and graduated with an A+.

This experience left a lasting impression on me. It reinforced my Director’s advice in a profound way. Everyone has hidden challenges, strengths, or stories that we may never fully understand, but they can transform our perspective if we take the time to uncover them. When I gave this student the opportunity to demonstrate her true abilities, I not only helped her succeed, but I also learned a valuable lesson about empathy, patience, and the importance of seeing beyond the surface.

Since those early years, I’ve tried to approach interactions with the curiosity to discover what lies beneath. This mindset has enriched my relationships, deepened my understanding of others, and continually reminded me that there is always more to learn about the people we encounter.

If you like my posts, please subscribe at normanwinarsky.substack.com. They are always free.

Your Venture Coach,

Norman