Assuming the best of intentions

...when you don't have all the answers.

That's what it means to give someone the benefit of the doubt.

To assume your client is out of town rather than blithely ignoring your emails.

To assume that the qualified candidate who applied for your job has all the skills you're looking for, even if they didn't list them all on their one-page resume.

To assume that someone is confessing the truth and not a lie (even when in a precarious circumstance).

Or even, to assume that someone who's out for a quick bite to eat, late at night, or, say, on a deserted street corner, is there for innocuous reasons.

That their timidness has less to do with them being cocky, and more to do with them being justifiably afraid. Both of you and the culture you represent.

It's no overstatement to say that defaulting to giving more people the benefit of an uncertain assumption can change our relationships, and even change our world.

Because assuming wrong can often get us into trouble. Or, more likely, cause honest and well-meaning people to suffer as a result.