Part 1 of 2
Recently, I was speaking with someone about joining one of my programs. It was our second Zoom call, which we had scheduled during our previous session. As planned, I joined the Zoom meeting on time and waited for him to join. After five minutes of waiting, I sent a friendly text to remind him of the meeting.
His response surprised me.
He said he hadn’t received a meeting confirmation from us, and because the meeting wasn’t on his calendar, he wasn’t available. Despite the mix-up, we were able to hold the Zoom call later that day. As we wrapped up the conversation, he again mentioned that he hadn’t received a confirmation, which is why it wasn’t on his calendar.
The thing is, our automated meeting confirmation system tracks every confirmation, and it showed that he had confirmed the meeting by clicking the link we sent. In that moment, I was tempted to point this out. After all, I didn’t want him to think I was careless or disorganized. My first instinct was to explain that we had sent the invite and that he had, in fact, confirmed it.
But I didn’t.
Why? Because doing so wouldn’t have helped. Yes, I could have been “right,” but it would’ve come at the cost of the relationship. By correcting him, I’d essentially be challenging his memory and organizational skills, which could make him defensive or irritated. No one likes to be told they’re wrong, especially when they feel certain they’re right.
This experience reminded me of an important lesson: Being right isn’t always the most important thing. In fact, sometimes it’s the wrong thing to focus on. In business, whether you’re dealing with clients, potential clients, or colleagues, being right at the wrong moment can damage relationships and trust.
There are countless applications of this lesson across industries. In retail, for example, a customer might be wrong about a return policy but strictly enforcing the policy could lose their future business (and the business of people they complain to about the experience). In service industries, clients may misremember details or instructions but correcting them too sharply can sour the entire relationship.
I know a person whose pronunciation of a wine was once loudly and firmly corrected by a server. This woman was a frequent guest who brought other guests and could absolutely and easily afford any of the bottles on the menu, but she never took another client back to this restaurant. Another person I know got a shirt back from his regular laundry service and found an ink mark on it that wasn’t there when it went in. He brought it to the attention of the business owner who took no responsibility and offered no recourse. The result? This guy never went back although he worked in an industry where suits and dress shirts were the norm. By refusing to own up to one mistake and replace one white shirt, the laundry lost a loyal customer and decades of this family’s weekly laundry and drycleaning business.
The next time you’re faced with a situation where you could prove your point, consider this: Is it really worth it? Often, the better path is to move forward gracefully, even if it means letting go of being right. It’s a small price to pay for maintaining goodwill and building lasting connections.
Sometimes, being right is wrong.
All that said, there are times when being right is absolutely right. In my next blog post, I’ll explore that idea a little more.
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