Honesty and Humility

I had lunch this week with a new potential advertising partner. Near the end of the conversation, he mentioned as incident about a former business partner which inspired this posting today.

Above all, be honest. And if you do screw up, own up to it, take responsibility, and make amends. Do not run and hide. Bad news always travels faster than good news, and the best way to stop the bad news is to convert it into good. Here's an example of how:

Your company screwed up. Didn't deliver as promised. Caused a whole chain reaction of bad things to happen. Go to your customer and apologize. Offer to make amends. Eat your profits. Earn back your customers trust, and earn back your customer. You can create a loyal customer if you are honest with them. And loyalty can be priceless.