The story goes this way. There was a bra company that decided to expand to new markets in order to get a head start on their competitors.

They want to find out if there was a potential market in Papua New Guinea to sell their bras to.

What happened was that they sent their first business development director over. For this particular person, before he arrived at the destination, he already had this belief that there were very few opportunities for market expansion; especially in this particular country.

When he arrived in that country, he got down from the plane, went out there, met the people and gathered information. His beliefs were confirmed in the process. He immediately sent a message back to the home office telling them, "You know, women in Papua New Guinea do not wear bras, thus there is no market for bras. I told you guys so!"

But, the company decided to get a second opinion. So, they sent a very new manager they recently hired, who had very little preconceptions on what was possible. For this new guy, because he has little experience in the industry, he had a positive belief that all corporations were out there and you could capitalize on them.

When he got to Papua New Guinea, he was amazed and excited. When he got down from the plane, he went out there to meet the same people gathering information in the process. This new manager had an entirely different perspective.

His reaction was totally opposite to the previous manager. He quickly went back to his room and sent a message back to his bosses, telling them, "You know boss, there is a fantastic opportunity I have uncovered."

"The women here do not wear bras, and we will make a lot of money by creating a new industry". "We will teach them how to wear bras and we will be the only one selling them all our bras. We will become a market leader.

In general, your beliefs affect your perceptions and determine the kind of actions you take. The actions you take will determine how much of your potential you will tap. And finally, the results you produce will constantly reinforce your beliefs, affecting the results you produce.