In the mid-1990s I was in a consulting firm with two other partners. I had always followed the unspoken rule of not arguing with my partners in front of the customer. One time I violated this rule. We were meeting with the president and chief operating officer of a division of a large corporation. While giving our recommendations, one of my partners and I got into a debate about one recommendation. This was a no-no, but it had an unexpected effect. It turned out the two top people we were presenting to had the same differing views, but they had never voiced their respective opinions. With my partner and me having this disagreement in front of them, it gave them permission to also have this debate between themselves. The result: they reached an agreement they otherwise wouldn’t have. Our consulting mistake ending up being a huge benefit for our customer.
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