Perception vs. Reality

I had a supervisor in my early career provide me with that advice and I've been thinking about it a lot lately. It is so immensely difficult to manage the perception others have of you, your work, your relationships, etc. yet I (and maybe you) spend countless hours worried about what others think (perceive) about us. More times than not, issues that service in our lives, barriers that jump out of no where, are the results of faulty perceptions. We just didn't have the hard conversation. We just didn't take the time to stop and ask, "Is this what you meant when you said that?" It has been said that one's perception IS one's reality. Given that, we all have our own versions of reality. Our purpose and goal should not be to convince someone of our reality, but work hard to understand the perceptions of others to understand theirs. If all of us did that, we would perhaps act a little kinder...lead a little better. Maybe the goal should be to use multiple perspectives to create a collective reality. Hmmm. Nah, that's too deep...or is it?