When Two Rights Might be Wrong!
Early in my career, I had a customer prospect. Replacing their current system was less money than the maintenance they were paying IBM for the old one. I was young and knew this was easy, and I was right. There was one option I had not considered—he cancelled maintenance. The system had not needed maintenance for years. I didn’t take the time to understand why he needed the new system beyond the obvious financial advantage, didn’t explore his requirements, and not only walked away from the sale, but I was paid on revenue, including the lost maintenance. In this case, from the right point of view, we were both right. But right came from assumptions, and facts that we saw differently, and his actions reflected what was right for him and his company. That experience taught me something important: there is rarely only one right answer. What looks obvious to you may not be right for someone else, and vice versa. Yet today, we seem fixated on being right. I made the right choice. I hav...