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"Oh, my mistake. You're right. Thanks for pointing that out!" That is, if you're humble enough to put your ego aside.
by zbanks 16y ago
"Oh, my mistake. You're right. Thanks for pointing that out!"
That is, if you're humble enough to put your ego aside.
- JoelMcCracken 16y agoYes. I would go out of my way to not work with the author of this horror.
- thomaspaine 16y agoI see humor is not your thing...
- hellbanned 16y agoGiven your response, I'd go out of my way not to work with you. Seriously.
- pjscott 16y agoIt doesn't even require you to put your ego aside if you take pride in being someone who can "lose" an argument gracefully. I put "lose" in scare quotes because, if you do it right, you can count that argument as a mutual victory.
- _sh 16y agoYeah, or we could all just plink away on Amigas or something.
- bfung 16y agoin addendum: "Thanks, I learned something new!"
- TallGuyShort 16y agoSometimes conceding defeat so easily is the most frustrating thing for your opponent. It makes them feel like they only won because you didn't try.
- snprbob86 16y agoI had a girlfriend complain "you always have to be right!" to which I replied "no, I'm just willing to admit when I am wrong". She objected, saying that I win every arguement. I recalled many occurances where she won arguements and pointed out how breif those discussions were because I allowed her to be right. Then she got even more angry at me for being right again...
- chewbranca 16y agoNotice he said 'I had a girlfriend', sometimes the best approach is knowing when being right is wrong.
- tkahnoski 16y agoSounds like advice I received from a recently married friend. "You can be happy or you can be right".
- snprbob86 16y agoI actually dated her for quite a long time past this discussion. We parted ways quite amicably after growing apart because I kept switching back and forth between Philadelphia and the west coast for internships. You're reading too much into it, but I definitely understand where you are coming from and in the common case, you are right.
- furyg3 16y agoThis is generally a good strategy even if it wasn't your mistake. Last week I wrote a short apology for something I'm sure I didn't do, which got my client in trouble with his business partner. The business partner sent my client an angry email demanding to know how the mistake could have been made. It's very likely that it was the business partner's mistake, very unlikely that it was my clients mistake... but "oh, hey! our consultant was working near that issue, maybe he touched it?! We'll ask him right away, Mr. Angry Important Business Partner!" Problem is: there's no possible way to know who did it. Shifting it back to the likely source (business partner's team) will only make him more angry, whether or not they are responsible. As a consultant, I can only loose. So I write an email to him, CC my client, and apologize for the mistake, promising that it won't happen again. My client knows I didn't do it, and now knows that I willingly took the bullet for him. Maybe SGaaS is a valid business model, where SG = scapegoat.
- lenni 16y agoSaying sorry (even for something you didn't do) is always a good strategy. Another one of my favourites: Phrasing a request like you're asking a favour even though you're just telling someone to do their job.
- amirmc 16y agoMaybe SGaaS is a valid business model, where SG = scapegoat One could argue that consultancy firms are already in this business, as you've just described. When unpleasant decisions need to be made, hire a bunch of consultants who can 'rubber stamp' it so the management and board can pass the blame.
- timwiseman 16y agoA very good policy and good advice. Still, one should be careful about apologizing in a way that could bring them financial liability for something they actually were not responsible for.