The Desert of Arizona
Partly Cloudy 44 Degrees
“Robustness is when you care more about the few who like your work than the multitude who hates it (artists); fragility is when you care more about the few who hate your work than the multitude who loves it (politicians).” -Nassim Taleb
I woke up and had this quote pass my desk this morning. This pretty much sums up your choice as a service provider. One choice brings a bright future, the other brings one of misery.
Walking one path has nothing to do with what happens to you in your life or business. It has to do with where you choose to put your focus.
Do you place your focus on those who don’t like what you’re doing or on those who do like what you’re doing?
But aren’t you supposed to please your clients? What if they don’t like what you’re doing?
Chasing the goal of pleasing your clients will forever put your happiness and satisfaction in the hands of someone else.
What happens when your client isn’t pleased?
A far more sane goal to pursue is to focus on moving your client forward to his or her goals. Whether or not she is pleased about that isn’t something you control.
With this in mind, a slight adaptation to Taleb’s quote above might read:
Robustness is when you care more about moving your clients closer to their goals than you do about being liked; fragility is when you care more about what your clients think of you than you do about what you help them achieve.