One afternoon, a woman noticed two small boys on the front step of a house. They were in their school uniforms carrying their backpacks and, she assumed, were going home after school. They were on their tiptoes trying to reach the doorbell with a stick.

"Poor little lads, they can't get in," she thought. So she marched up the path, reached over the boys and gave the bell a long, firm push.

The surprised boys turned around and screamed, "Quick, run!" and promptly disappeared over the garden wall.

We've all had incidents where we misread the situation or falsely assumed that what we saw represented all the facts. Then we realize we were wrong or at least made a premature judgment.

While it's not necessarily difficult to rethink your original assessment, when it comes to your business, it can be very costly. You never want your customers to have to assume or guess that they know about all your products or services. You must be specific, informative and user-friendly. To make sure your messaging is working in your favor, consider these following questions:

-- Do your customers have any idea what your business offers? So often, business names don't provide clues about the nature of a product or service. If that's your situation, you must find ways to present your business so that customers can find you. An organization with a name like "Jones and Associates" could be a law firm, a real estate company, house painters, or a dozen other businesses. You can't assume that your name is synonymous with your service. Make sure your Internet presence reflects the range of your services.

-- Do your customers know what your products and services can do for them? Spell it out. Even a product as basic as an envelope does more than move mail. At MackayMitchell Envelope Co., we offer more than 100 varieties of envelopes -- for direct mail (four-color process), photos, invitations, tickets, return mail, embossing, self-seal and so on. If you have a specialized product that would benefit your customers, don't assume that they know that such an item even exists.

-- Do your customers know how your products actually work? Think "user-friendly" every minute. Make sure your instruction manuals and training courses actually anticipate customer needs. Don't assume that every customer is tech-savvy or aware of options that would better serve his needs.

While you are rethinking ways to keep your customers from making false assumptions about your business, you can also reprogram your thinking so you can avoid making false assumptions. Here are some ideas to consider:

-- Your first assumption may be false. Make sure you have the facts before you make a judgment.

-- Give other people's ideas a chance. Another perspective can be extremely useful in making an accurate assessment.

-- Learn to separate facts from opinions. Facts are provable, objective and clear. Logic prevails rather than personal bias.

Think about how assumptions you make could change with circumstances. For example, can you assume that costs will remain the same? That would affect your bottom line, and potentially your success.

Are all the assumptions in your business plan reasonable? Are you open to trying new things to improve your performance?

Don't assume that today's customer will be tomorrow's customer. Plan for changes and be willing to change plans. As needs change and businesses come and go, you must be prepared to alter your thinking and marketing to adapt to the times.

Resetting your mindset is never simple. We all come equipped with viewpoints and perceptions that color our thinking. But we can retrain our brains to see a bigger picture, which, in the long run, will prevent jumping to the wrong conclusion. Here's a great illustration of the result of a false assumption.

Two service technicians working for the gas company conducted an ongoing rivalry to break up the monotony of their jobs. One day, as they went around to the back of a house to read the meter, the woman who owned the house idly watched them from her kitchen window.

When they finished their business, the two technicians decided to race back to the truck -- and so burst into a run. As they reached their vehicle, they were surprised to see the woman of the house close on their heels.

"What's wrong?" one asked.

She panted, "When two gas company men run from my house, I figure it's time for me to run, too."

Mackay's Moral: Don't presume what you assume is correct.

In a village long ago lived a young boy who loved nothing as much as competing in athletic contests. Because he was fit and strong, he usually triumphed, and he grew to love the adulation he received from the villagers around him. One day he challenged two other youths to a race from one end of the town to the other. The villagers all lined up to watch. The boy won, and the townspeople cheered wildly.

"Another race!" the boy demanded, greedy for more praise. "Who else will race against me?"

Two more young men stepped up, and again the race was run. And once again the boy won, and he laughed in pride as the villagers cheered -- though they were a little less enthusiastic than before.

"Who else?" The boy looked around. "Come on, are you all afraid?"

A woman was watching the races, and she grew annoyed at the boy's arrogance. So she prodded two elderly men to challenge him. They could barely make their way to the starting line, but they seemed willing to compete.

"What's this?" The boy was puzzled. How could he win the applause he craved by beating two old men who could hardly stagger two steps?

The woman walked up and whispered in his ear: "Do you want applause for this race?"

"Of course!"

"Finish together," the woman said. "Just finish together."

The boy did as he was told -- and received the loudest applause of his life when the three of them reached the finish line, side by side.

Lest you think I'm criticizing the competitive spirit, rest easy. Let me assure you that this column has nothing to do with competition, but everything to do with being a winner.

Competition has an important role in business and in life. It stimulates us to do well, to succeed, to reach higher. But competition is not the only motivation that we should respond to.

You will always be a winner if you care about others and recognize when situations can be a win-win for everyone.

If you want to treat others with a classiness that will make you stand out, follow these tips from Alan Weiss in the Balancing Act newsletter (www.summitconsulting.com), which I have expanded on.

-- Listen to others without judgment. Often people aren't really looking for an opinion; they just want to be heard. Look at it as a rare opportunity to give someone what he or she really wants in life.

-- If someone is boring you with a long rendition about a trip or some other dull subject, show patience and ask how he or she enjoyed the weather or the food. They are trying to share something with you, even if they aren't doing a very good job of it. Treat the other person as you would like to be treated.

-- If you are angry about some type of service you are receiving (or not receiving) while with others, don't ruin everyone's experience by making a scene. If you must say something, say it in private. Remember that others in your group may not care about the same things or to the same degree that you do.

-- Try not to take things personally. Not everything in the world is about your self-worth. Let me repeat: It is not always all about you!

-- Paying an unexpected compliment is worlds better than giving an expected gift. Give it a try and you'll understand. And it's not difficult.

-- When you want other people to believe that it's really their choices and opinions that matter, don't rush to give your opinion or make your choice first. Enough said.

-- Watch your body language. Actions speak louder than words.

-- If you need someone's help, offer him or her something that serves their interest in return. Don't create an obligation or establish guilt when you do this. This is what I like to call "reciprocity without keeping score."

Competition will always have a legitimate role in business and in life. But your most important competition comes from within. Be the best person you can be.

Mackay's Moral: Caring is contagious -- help spread it around!

Albert Einstein once said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge."

There's no shortage of smart people in the world. But there is a shortage of creative people in the world. Thinking is the hardest and most valuable task any person can perform. Don't stifle it; encourage it. Remember, there's no correlation between I.Q. and creativity.

Why aren't more people creative? Sometimes people are afraid of trying something new and getting ridiculed for it. Sometimes people don't believe that something could be better so they don't bother trying to be more creative.

Whatever the reasons, the biggest risk can sometimes be not taking a risk.

In the book "The Creative Executive," Granville Toogood says that we are by nature creative, but most of us fail to recognize our creative potential. We race through our careers, often never recognizing that creativity is as important to business as DNA is to evolution. And when creativity pops up around us, we are often quick to mock it. Corporate cultures talk creativity, but the herd favors mediocrity, he says.

How can you improve your life? If you keep doing what you're doing, you're only going to keep getting what you already have. To get a better life, you need to do something different, and it all starts with being creative.

"Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while." That particular piece of wisdom is from the late Apple founder Steve Jobs.

What may seem obvious for a software engineer at Apple seems utterly amazing to me. Who would have ever imagined the power of the Internet? Twenty years ago, who would have ever imagined that you could have the entire Internet in your hand?

Certainly, great artists, writers and composers come to mind when the discussion turns to creativity. But did they all create something new? Artists work with the same three primary colors, plus black and white. Writers all start with the same 26 letters. Beethoven and the Beatles used the same musical notes.

In all those cases, they've taken the familiar in a different direction. They didn't reinvent the wheel. They just changed the wheel's course.

Anyone can do it. Being creative is not the same as being original -- that is, you don't have to start from scratch to be creative. Consider this advice:

-- Connect ideas. Some ideas are better than others. But instead of waiting for that stroke of genius to hit you, take a couple of pretty good ideas and look for ways to connect them.

-- Repeat. Analyze what you've already done, and try creating it all over again. Chances are you'll find a way to improve it, or perhaps give it a fresh angle. You may also find a way to save time or use new resources by exploring what you already know.

-- Consider the impact. Who else does the problem affect? You may gain valuable insight and build support by including others in your analysis and solution.

-- Do some extra research. Don't assume you have all the facts you need. Before trying to solve the problem, dig deep into the background and the issues surrounding it. You may uncover something new that will lead to a fresh approach when nothing else has worked.

-- Limit yourself. Sometimes having a wide variety of tools at your fingertips can overwhelm your brain. Take a few ideas at a time, and discard those that get in the way.

-- Stick to a schedule. Inspiration will find you more easily if it knows where to look. Set a regular time and place for your creative work so your mind gets used to searching for ideas on a predictable basis.

-- Accept mistakes. Don't obsess over perfection. Try things even if you're not sure they'll succeed. Often you'll stumble across a different strategy or a better path along the way.

How's this for a creative approach? A man bet a friend that he could make a million dollars selling rocks. After his friend took him up on that offer, he packaged rocks in cardboard cartons that looked like pet carriers, filled them with straw, and called them Pet Rocks. Do I need to tell you that he made more than a million dollars?

Mackay's Moral: "Creative genius" is a misnomer -- you don't have to be a genius to be creative.