{"id":7046555,"date":"2026-08-24T21:36:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T21:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/perception-matters-dan-nielsen\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T21:36:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T21:36:40","slug":"perception-matters-dan-nielsen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7046555","title":{"rendered":"Perception Matters | Dan Nielsen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"420\" src=\"https:\/\/dannielsen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/30-5128-post\/Perception-Matters.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5129\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dannielsen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/30-5128-post\/Perception-Matters.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/dannielsen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/30-5128-post\/Perception-Matters-300x158.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/dannielsen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/30-5128-post\/Perception-Matters-768x403.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/dannielsen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/30-5128-post\/Perception-Matters-50x26.jpeg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I tend to be an observer, an analyzer, and sometimes\u2014I admit\u2014an over-analyzer. I often reflect on interactions and replay conversations in my head, wondering if I handled a situation well or said the right thing. I can\u2019t tell you how many times I\u2019ve followed up with a friend or colleague to double check that a joke I made or question I asked didn\u2019t cause offense or misunderstanding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While I\u2019m sure this trait has always been a part of my personality, I\u2019m also pretty sure it has gotten stronger as I\u2019ve grown older and have enjoyed a long and fulfilling career in healthcare leadership.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I will never forget a lesson I learned early in my career that I think helped serve to strengthen and increase my habit of reflection and analysis. I learned that perception truly matters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When I first started as a hospital CEO, I was young\u2014thirty at the time\u2014and looked even younger. I didn\u2019t realize it for awhile, but many people within my organization assumed I had gotten the position thanks to a rich or influential parent, or some such reason, which was not the case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unbeknownst to me, that perception created some resentment and disillusionment among workers at all levels within the hospital who had years or even decades more work experience than I. It took months and years of building personal connections and proving myself as a capable and compassionate leader before those perceptions faded.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I ended up serving as CEO of that hospital for 15 years, and have no doubt the important lesson I learned about perception in my first months on the job served me well for the rest of my career.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As my friend and colleague Andrea Overman once wisely said when discussing leadership,\u00a0<em>\u201cWe\u2019re not leaders because of a title; we\u2019re only a leader if people are willing to follow us.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0And that willingness very often depends on perception!<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How about you, have you had an experience that revealed the incredible importance of perception? How have different perceptions influenced and impacted your life and career?<\/p>\n<div class=\"printfriendly pf-button pf-button-content pf-alignleft\">\n                    <a href=\"#\" rel=\"nofollow\" onclick=\"window.print(); pfTrackEvent('Perception Matters'); return false;\" title=\"Printer Friendly, PDF &amp; Email\"><br \/>\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"pf-button-img\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.printfriendly.com\/buttons\/printfriendly-pdf-button.png\" alt=\"Print Friendly, PDF &amp; Email\" style=\"width: 112px;height: 24px;\"\/><br \/>\n                    <\/a>\n                <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I tend to be an observer, an analyzer, and sometimes\u2014I admit\u2014an over-analyzer. I often reflect on interactions and replay conversations in my head, wondering if I handled a situation well or said the right thing. I can\u2019t tell you how many times I\u2019ve followed up with a friend or colleague to double check that a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7046556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[209205,147593,132437,117043,12280,117044,142538,107094,117045],"tags":[157294,14954,4380,15680,11655,7633,87899,28217,11260],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7046555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-appearances","category-assumptions","category-expectations","category-greater-success","category-leadership","category-leadership-excellence","category-perception","category-success","category-tips-for-greater-success","tag-appearances","tag-assumptions","tag-dan","tag-expectations","tag-leadership","tag-matters","tag-nielsen","tag-perception","tag-success"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Perception Matters | Dan Nielsen - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7046555\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Perception Matters | Dan Nielsen - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I tend to be an observer, an analyzer, and sometimes\u2014I admit\u2014an over-analyzer. 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