When we decide for a husband, a wife or a client, we take away their freedom of choice. In the family and in business alike, it works against us.
An important principle for building relationships with people.
It goes like this: “Never make a decision for another person.”
In a family, when we decide things for each other, we are not acting wisely. The person we love doesn’t feel that their opinion matters to us, doesn’t feel heard, and may conclude that we dismiss their point of view.
Even if we are convinced that our husband or wife won’t agree with our suggestion, it still makes sense to ask. It leaves the person we love with a choice. And that is the most important thing in any relationship.
In business, making decisions for your clients is a serious mistake.
We all live inside our own information bubble. When we decide that this product, this service, this offer won’t interest our clients, we are working against our own pocket.
For some reason, being right in our own head matters more to us than financial results.
We don’t know what’s going on in other people’s heads, and we’d better find out rather than decide on their behalf that they aren’t interested.
So in personal and in business relationships alike, it’s worth creating the conditions where a person can make the decision themselves and tell us what it is.
Then people will feel comfortable around us. Nobody likes having their freedom of choice taken away.
Do you agree that making decisions for other people is a mistake?
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Reading helps, but what changes a life is specific steps, not reading. Fifty minutes of conversation is usually enough to see which steps are yours.
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