12 things every leader needs to know about people to lead them successfully!

 What do you see in the picture? A young beautiful woman

 or an old woman?

Understanding people is not an exact science, mainly because people are unpredictable, complex and individually different. Human resource management has come up with psychometric tests and psychological analysis that reveal the hidden person in an interview assessment situation. But even all these are not enough Even the closest people can occasionally exhibit character traits that we would find rather strange and out of the ordinary. Sometimes a stimuli from your side would make them react in very odd way; the general rule is always to be prepared for the unexpected. Even your wife or husband can put one over you occasionally, and you would find yourself wondering:"where in the world did that come from?" I have promised myself never to be so broke and never to run out of financial options to extent that I would have to depend on my wife. What if she let's you down or rubs you up the wrong way? Or says something that cuts deeply. Its a scary feeling. People are not really bad, unless of course there are bad things that have shaped them. We can find some common ground in the traits that we expect should be good from the people we relate with. Every person who deals with people on whatever level would do good to seek to understand them. Understanding people is the secret of human relations. Here are 12 useful things about people that could help you get along with them.
1. People are terrific! It works to start with a general assumption. You will be incorrect sometimes, but don't let the minority report affect the majority of good references. If you treat people right they tend to be courteous, surprisingly helpful. But if you are rude and contemptuous you will get the same out of people you deal with.
2. People make mistakes! This does not serve as an excuse for our failures or misdeeds, but we ought to know that people make mistakes. Unless there is a deliberate agenda, nobody goes out of his way to scuttle or sabotage work of others. People usually do their best and try to get it right. Where mistakes are made out of good intentions, they are easy to forgive.
3. People will experience anger, fear, sadness and joy. These are natural traits. Nobody is likely to be in the same state of mind at all times. No one leaves his emotions at the door when he comes into a building. But emotions can be held in check and controlled if we so desire to.
4. We all have hopes and dreams. Take the time to listen to people and you might discover that their interests are hugely varied. It is wise to respect the hopes of others, especially if such hopes are good and realistic.
5. People see things differently. We may both look at the same thing but the image that hits your brain might be different from the one that hits mine. Often as managers we have to work hard at making people see things the same way.
6. Often people might arrive at a decision  different from the one you would make. Don't blame them! Persuasion is often handy to bring them back to your way of thinking. But where persuasion doesn't work, and the interests of the majority are threatened, then force may have to be used.
7.People want to be heroes of their own lives. Most people have other people who they are proud of. We all want to be heroes and achievers in the eyes of those people we love and respect.
8. People crave recognition and attention. Some people will go to some extreme levels to get the attention of others while some others are subtle in their approach and wish to be judged by their achievements and not by the noise they make for attention.
9. People like to be connected. This is the whole essence of the social media and other communication media. There is a deep desire for every  normal human being to interact. No man is an island.
10 People dislike being rejected, humiliated or embarrassed. Such feelings often attract hostility or anger when they are caused by other people.
11. People like some degree of control. We like to control our own lives and whenever we find ourselves in situations in which we have no control, it causes a feeling of insecurity, fear and anger.
12. You are no better or worse than those around you. Abilities, strength, wealth or gifts may vary but never talk down on people. Nobody likes that.