the sky floor

Everything You’re Doing is Wrong!

July 14, 2021
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Have you met the service providers who say this? Everything You’re Doing is Wrong!

We have run across this over and over again, usually from new vendors trying to win work. Your company needs a service done, and some of the people who answer the call are shouting at you, “everything you’re doing is wrong!” 

They may be right, and they may be wrong. But prattlers need to appear to be correct, so it can be difficult to tell if they are faulty or correct. It is more strategy than reality. 

It is more powerful to say everything is wrong than to say you are doing a lot of things right, but we would do some things differently. And if they are trying to sell, many people have been taught that power plays are a way in. 

Frankly, by the time the blowhards are ‘yelling’ that loud, I’ve stopped listening. Why? 

  • No one is ever 100% right or 100% wrong – you have about as good of a chance of finding someone firmly in either camp as seeing a Sharknado form in real life. 
  • It might just be a sales tactic, consciously or subconsciously.
  • It displays an alarming lack of flexibility.

Collaboration > Kings

Since no one is ever 100% right or 100% wrong, you will be wrong sometimes. Heck, maybe even a lot of the time. Being right all the time is not the key to success – being flexible is. Collaboration is better than a room full of Kings who must be right. 

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When your new vendor who confidently told you everything is wrong fails, what will they do? Will they tell you the whole truth? Pride may drive dishonesty. I prefer to find partners who recognize there are multiple solutions to most problems. And, more importantly, partners who collaborate. 

We all have something to offer. You can assemble a patchwork of excellence far easier with a team than a single King making declarations for the kingdom in many circumstances. 

Finally, taking responsibility is essential. Would you please make sure the vendors you are hiring are capable of admitting when they are wrong and pivoting? Being right isn’t as crucial as ingenuity. Ingenuity is taking all the inputs of a project, the things that have gone well, and the things that have gone wrong and turning them into the next original chess move. 

At The Sky Floor, we strive for ingenuity and collaboration over a cocky-king mentality. If you are looking for a person to say, “you’re doing everything wrong,” we probably aren’t the agency for you.