Just because you know your own agenda does not mean that it isn’t hidden from others. How much do we leave unsaid because we assume that others already know? How often do we simply jump right into something without laying the foundations to prevent misunderstanding. If we trusted more in each other this might not be so big an issue, but we don’t. Perhaps in the case of agenda setting we don’t know our own as well as we should and people can see that. This argument goes deeply into the whole idea of doing things simply to do them or doing them because we think that’s what we should do. We earn trust by how genuine and how authentic we are. Intentions do matter and if we are unsure of our own maybe we need to think more about it. Follow-through is a big deal too.
Agendas
When someone raises a concern about hidden agendas, that means, at least in some way, they don’t trust you and assurances that there aren’t any may seem hollow even if you believe yourself. I for one assume good intentions (yes I am aware of the saying, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”), but I also think it’s critical to understand motivations both in yourself and in others. I may not agree with your agenda, but at least if you give me a chance to hear it we can begin to understand each other. The other side of this is that even though your reason for doing something and my reason for doing the same things might not be the same, it doesn’t mean we can’t work on it together.
We can, we must and we will work together and we will be doing ourselves a favor the more clear we are about why we do what we do.
Tripping the Light Fantastic 