Monday, February 18
Consultants communicate with integrity
As consultants, we need to have difficult conversations with clients perhaps more often than we'd like. Our diplomacy and integrity are sometimes tested to their limits. Stress can run high.
Consider these two quotations:
Most of the stress that people feel doesn't come from having too much to do - it comes from not keeping agreements they've made with themselves.
-- David Allen
If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters.
-- Alan K. Simpson
Now, what does all this mean to you as a professional services provider?...
A good definition of integrity starts with the notion of Self. If you can (and do) keep promises and agreements with yourself, you will be in a much stronger position to do the same with others.
Integrity is vital to consulting, leadership, sales, and success in every form of person-to-person interaction, in both public and private life.
One of the main sources of stress comes from self-deception, concocting (and then relying on) unrealistic expectations, broken promises, and abandoned self-discipline. Why not give all that up and instead focus more on increasing your level of commitment and integrity - first to your Self and then to your word and then to others.
Tell the truth. Do the right thing. Stay the course. These are clichés only because they have been repeated so often out of sheer necessity.
Another plus - as Mark Twain said, "If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."
What are your biggest professional services communication challenges? What have been your most difficult consulting conversations? Leave a comment and let me know.
-- David 610.716.5984
www.DavidNewman.com
Consider these two quotations:
Most of the stress that people feel doesn't come from having too much to do - it comes from not keeping agreements they've made with themselves.
-- David Allen
If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters.
-- Alan K. Simpson
Now, what does all this mean to you as a professional services provider?...
A good definition of integrity starts with the notion of Self. If you can (and do) keep promises and agreements with yourself, you will be in a much stronger position to do the same with others.
Integrity is vital to consulting, leadership, sales, and success in every form of person-to-person interaction, in both public and private life.
One of the main sources of stress comes from self-deception, concocting (and then relying on) unrealistic expectations, broken promises, and abandoned self-discipline. Why not give all that up and instead focus more on increasing your level of commitment and integrity - first to your Self and then to your word and then to others.
Tell the truth. Do the right thing. Stay the course. These are clichés only because they have been repeated so often out of sheer necessity.
Another plus - as Mark Twain said, "If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."
What are your biggest professional services communication challenges? What have been your most difficult consulting conversations? Leave a comment and let me know.
-- David 610.716.5984
www.DavidNewman.com
