269. I Assumed You Remembered

At The Table with Patrick Lencioni

Patrick Lencioni

Business, Management

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 26 May 2026

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What important message have you stopped repeating because you assumed people already knew it?

In episode 269 of At The Table, Patrick Lencioni and Cody Thompson make the case that people need reminders more than they need brand-new information. They explain why leaders often undercommunicate the most important things: they are afraid of sounding repetitive, annoying, or insulting. Through examples from work, church, family, and everyday life, they challenge listeners to stop assuming people remember and start repeating what matters.

Topics explored in this episode:

(00:00) Why Reminders Matter

Pat introduces the idea that people often fail to say important things because they assume others already know or remember them.
Cody connects the topic to the broader need for reminders in work, leadership, strategy, church, and family life.

(03:19) Returning To The Basics

Pat explains that much of his work with leaders involves reminding them of simple truths they already knew but stopped applying.
Cody points out that teams often chase new, sophisticated ideas rather than revisiting the foundational principles that provide clarity.

(07:57) Leaders As Chief Reminding Officers

Pat describes the CEO, parent, priest, and manager as “chief reminding officers” whose job is to transfer understanding, not entertain themselves.
Cody shares how repeated stories and clarity questions help a team internalize values until they become part of decision-making.

(12:09) Repetition At Home And Work

Cody reflects on how repeated family traditions and repeated words of love create lasting memories and emotional certainty.
Pat explains that appreciation, love, and organizational clarity should be repeated even when people seem to already know them.

This episode of At The Table with Patrick Lencioni is brought to you by The Table Group: https://www.tablegroup.com. We teach leaders how to make work more effective and less dysfunctional. We also help their employees be more fulfilled and less miserable.

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This episode was produced by Story On Media: https://www.storyon.co.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Assume that people don't know what we're about to say or they don't remember and then remind them.
0:05.0	I honestly believe that people that do this are very successful in life.
0:09.0	And yet, the vast majority of people I know and the vast majority don't like to do this because they're afraid that somebody's going to say,
0:17.0	I already knew that. What do you think I'm stupid?
0:19.0	Yeah.
0:20.0	And for every time that somebody says that, there's 19 times where they're like, oh, I'm so glad you reminded me. But because of the fear of that one time when somebody's going to think we're annoying or insulting them by reminding them, we leave the other 19 things on set. Because how many times in life do people miss out on things? Because somebody thought, well, I assume they already knew that.
0:38.8	Welcome to the At the Table podcast, which lives at the intersection of culture, leadership, teamwork, and organizational health.
0:45.3	I'm Pat Linchony, joined by Cody Thompson. We're hosts and co-hosts extraordinaire.
0:50.5	Cody, what's the topic today?
0:51.6	I assumed you remembered.
0:53.4	That's right. I assumed you remembered.
0:54.7	We're going to talk about the importance of reminding people of things and not giving into the
1:01.9	assumption that people know what we're talking about. This is one of my favorite things in the
1:05.7	world in terms of principles that I have learned throughout my career. We don't even know where
1:10.5	this comes from, but somebody once said what you assume is most important. What we assume people already understand is probably the thing we need to focus on the most. Do we know where we got that? We don't, right? That's just a, that's just a saying. I've looked it up on Google and everything. Somebody, like a business leader that you met was using that, but we don't
1:27.6	know the origin of it, you know.
1:29.3	And this, this impacts everything in our lives at work and leadership and strategy,
1:36.0	at church and home and everything else.
1:37.9	And then, and so what we have to do is assume that people don't know what we're about
1:42.3	to say or they don't remember and then remind
1:45.6	them and I honestly believe that people that do this are very successful in life because people
1:52.5	are like oh yeah I forgot about that and yet the vast majority of people I know and the vast
	...

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