Seriosity and thruth

A couple of days ago I had -once again- a very interesting lunch conversation with a colleague of mine. One of the various themes touched was dedication: more specifically dedication to work. The person we where discussing was somebody who really believes one of his key virtues is dedication. In fact I know that if he would list his virtues for qualifying for a job he would not hesitate in mentioning dedication and engagement as one of the reasons to hire him.

Now the fact is that my conversation partner had the clear impression that this guy -despite other virtues not mentioned here- takes his work with lightness and thereby obviously lacks of dedication for his activities.

How can this be possible ?

Clearly people sees and interprets things completely differently from each other even if they see the same actions. Is it because they want to see different things ? Is it because they set priorities in what they see differently ?

Is is a cultural thing ? Is is due to the experience they accumulated during the years ?

Who knows ? One thing is sure: I do not know it myself and that bothers me!