Some are forthcoming about their agendas. You understand well who they are and where they are going with regard to their personal and professional lives. Of course, life has a way of pushing and swaying those plans, but in general some people are quite transparent and there's not a lot of guessing. Typically their actions match who they are and what they do.
There are others who are more secretive and difficult to know or understand. When you think they'll act one way, they act another. You're not really sure what they stand for as they rarely share a point of view or show up for collaborative meetings. When these people do speak up, you wonder why they've chosen that moment of time to voice a concern, and you wonder about their agenda since they were often missing in action when issues of importance occurred in the past. These types of people, in general, are less trustworthy since you really don't understand who they are, what they stand for, whom they support, or what their agenda is?
It's not necessary that everyone is known to all. There's good reason for privacy, discretion, humility, yet when a colleague, friend, or family member is missing in action whenever issues don't involve them or perhaps call for uncomfortable work that may involve greater transparency, more work, risk taking, or collaboration that's worrisome and points to the potential that the individual's agenda is not necessarily well directed or appointed.
Yet, we cannot know all, and sometimes we have to let go of those that confuse, and perhaps worry us. We can't spend our days worried about their agenda or actions, yet we can remain watchful, ask questions, and guarded with regard to their questions, requests, and information. While we'd like to believe that all are well intentioned, the reality is that some are not, and this can be true for many reasons.
We can't live the lives of others, but we can work to right our own lives so that our actions match our agendas, our time is thoughtfully spent in support of our own vision and the vision/dreams of others too, and we make time to be present and responsive to the life happening with, to, and around us all the time.
In general the agendas I write so much about are endless--agendas that include teaching well, parenting well, loving well and living well. There's always room for betterment. Fortunately I work and live with many who have similar goals, and they model what it means to have agendas that well match their intent and efforts. Good models for me to follow and learn from. Onward.