Clients don't expect perfection from the service providers they hire, but they do expect honesty and transparency. There is no better way to demonstrate this than by acknowledging when a mistake has been made and humbly apologizing for it.
Interpretation
Clients value honesty and transparency from service providers more than perfection.
This quote emphasizes that in business relationships, clients prioritize honesty and transparency over flawless performance. Acknowledging mistakes and offering sincere apologies can strengthen trust and rapport between service providers and their clients, highlighting the importance of integrity in professional interactions.
In practice
In a business meeting, to illustrate the importance of transparency, you could share this quote when discussing client relationships.
I know that any group of people can become a team if they do the right things, but I came to realize over time that if you acquire or develop the right kind of people, that process of building a team is going to be much more effective and easier.
The truth is that intelligence, knowledge, and domain expertise are vastly overrated as the driving forces behind competitive advantage and sustainable success.
The kind of people that all teams need are people who are humble, hungry, and smart: humble being little ego, focusing more on their teammates than on themselves. Hungry, meaning they have a strong work ethic, are determined to get things done, and contribute any way they can. Smart, meaning not intellectually smart but inner personally smart.
Team members have to be focused on the collective good of the team. Too often, they focus their attention on their department, their budget, their career aspirations, their egos.
Teamwork remains a sustainable competitive advantage that has been largely untapped because it is hard to measure (teamwork impacts the outcome of an organization in such comprehensive and invasive ways that it's virtually impossible to isolate it as a single variable) and because it is extremely hard to achieve (it requires levels of courage and discipline that few executives possess) - ironically, building a strong team is very simple (it doesn't require masterful insights or tactics).
Your focus should be on creating an environment where growth can occur and then letting nature take its course.
For women's tears are but the sweat of eyes.
A kid in an abusive home has far fewer rights than any POW. There is no Geneva Convention for kids.
And if I had not a letter to write myself, I might sit by you and admire the evenness of your writing, as another young lady once did. But I have an aunt too, who must not be longer neglected.
I want people to know that it's OK to have feelings; it's OK to be vulnerable. That no matter where they live around the world, teenagers all go through the same things.
Keep in mind that to avoid loneliness, many people need both a social circle and an intimate attachment. Having just one of two may still leave you feeling lonely.
I traffic in empathy. I try to be vulnerable with people so they can be vulnerable back. I've always been searching for empathy in other people. It's when I feel most not alone.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.