Being an Achiever

January 2010

Learn the purpose behind the chart and the Blackberry.

Ah-Ha! Moment — Sometimes, the "Achiever" in me gets the better of my common sense. In January, I had an important meeting with a major client — and I was not feeling well. Rather than do the smart thing and listen to my "heart" telling me "you really need to go home and take care of yourself," I listened to my "head" shouting, "No — you can get through this one hour meeting — cowboy up!"

My head won out, and I did a less than stellar job with my client — which, in a firm like mine where high expectations are the norm, means I flunked. In that meeting, I wasn't any good to my client, myself, my firm, or my staff. Fortunately, this client understood my situation and we met again in early February, where I got a do-over — and aced things in this meeting.

The lesson? By letting my head-based ego have its way, I forgot to ask "How can I add value to this relationship, in this meeting?" A heart-felt honest answer would have been "I can't really add value because I'm under the weather — so it's best for everyone to postpone this meeting until I'm feeling better."

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