A lesson that takes forever to learn

The Daily Drip

I was just on the most frustrating phone call with a colleague.

The whole time I was itching to get to the meat of the conversation.

This was supposed to be a demo of a new product that was going to help my team make two big and important decisions in the coming weeks. We had to move!

The whole time, I bit my tongue as my colleague asked questions and let the conversation stay fairly high level.

Eventually, we did get under-the-hood and I started feeling a little better about where the conversation was going.

By the end, something strange happened. We started talking about longer-term partnerships and the business development opportunities we could create together.

Suddenly, I saw what my colleague had seen the whole time: the bigger picture.

This wasn't just a sales call. This was a relationship that could be developed into many more opportunities.

When we hung up, I called my colleague back and told him about my experience and thanked him for doing most of the talking.

This is a lesson I keep learning. It involves patience and enough zooming out to see the big picture. In addition, none of us are perfect. Sometimes it helps to have someone else watching your back to protect the mission when you mess up.

Life is so rich.

What's a lesson you keep re-learning?