“Sorry I was late, but traffic was crazy this morning,” or “Sorry I was late, but I needed to pick up my clothes from the cleaners,” are phrases that most bosses have heard from tardy employees. Although each remark might be judged on its own merits, the variances could indicate something else about the personalities of the employees. Despite the fact that most of us think of ourselves as unique individuals, psychologists have spent years identifying patterns in our personality traits that show we share certain very similar characteristics—those who believe they have control over their lives and those who don’t. Here is a short story to explain it.
