You can't judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree
When evaluating people's abilities or potential
Understanding the Rule
Everyone has unique strengths and talents. Judging people by arbitrary standards that don't match their abilities is unfair and misses their true potential. Success requires finding and developing individual strengths.
What Happens When You Break It
Inappropriate evaluation standards label capable people as failures, waste talent, damage self-esteem, prevent people from finding their strengths, and create systemically unfair outcomes.
Benefits of Following This Rule
Recognizing diverse talents helps people find their strengths, builds confidence, maximizes potential, creates fair opportunities, and helps everyone contribute their best.