What Did You Expect?
It will come as no surprise for many of you that your well-being depends to a very large effect on the relationships you have. Married people are on average far happier than unmarried ones. Interestingly this is the case for men even if the marriage is not particularly successful. For women an unsuccessful marriage is worse than being single. Any port in a storm will not work for 50% of the population!
I am sure this is true in all aspects of our personal and business lives and negotiating the right relationships creates fulfilling and profitable lives.
I was reminded of this whilst speaking to an old mate of mine the other week.
He has been looking for a special friend for a considerable period of time, and has tried all the old, and many of the new, ways of meeting someone with the same (or at least sympathetic) aspirations. He saw a guy he liked on a dating web site and started a dialogue.
Things went well and eventually the pair, having scrutinized each other ’s photos and descriptions, and following a number of emails and telephone conversations, agreed to meet. The day arrives and filled with trepidation my friend makes his way to the pub in the hope that this could turn into something fulfilling.
Imagine the surprise when my friend, expecting to meet a 6 foot 2 guy, is confronted by what my friend described in scathing detail as Ronnie Corbett in Cubans.
His new potential friend, was to put it mildly, vertically challenged. My friend asked the guy if he didn’t think he would realize that he was 5 foot 2. Did he think he could sneak it by him?
This got me thinking. If I have potentially difficult news to deliver, should I flag it in advance and risk at worst no further opportunity to discuss other aspects of the business in hand.
Or am I upfront and at least get all the issues on the table–if