Articles

The Myth of Meeting Client Expectations

Big-Picture Thinking (Part 3)

“We think too small,” said the Chinese leader Mao Tse-Tung. “Like the frog at the bottom of the well. He thinks the sky is only as big as the top of the well. If he surfaced, he would have an entirely different view.” Professionals who act like the frog at the bottom of well often […]

Big-Picture Thinking (Part 2)

Big picture thinking: Clients treasure it; Executives want it from their managers; and Kings, queens, and presidents have sought out generals who exemplified it. We’ve never been quite sure where it comes from, though. President Lincoln finally found in Ulysses S. Grant, for example, a strategist to counter the South’s brilliant General Robert E. Lee. […]

Big-Picture Thinking (Part 1)

ENDING THE SUMMER This is the August edition of Client Loyalty. I thought it pointless to send it out at the end of August, when many people are on vacation, but perhaps there was a subconscious reason as well: An inability, on my part, to let go of the summer! Moving from summer to fall […]

The Power of Reflection

Do you ever have the nagging feeling that you don’t have time to really think anymore? You’re not alone. A variety of factors have conspired to rob us of time for reflection about ourselves, our lives, and the problems and issues that our clients face. Today, our minds are rarely silent. The average businessperson receives […]

The Doubting Mind

“I used to work for an old-fashioned rainmaker,” a client of mine once told me. “He had that ‘take no prisoners’ approach to sales and customer relationships. His motto was, ‘Sometimes wrong, never in doubt.’” Never in doubt, indeed. It’s one thing to have deep-seated conviction about your views, quite another, however, to obscure the […]

After Arthur Andersen: Back to Basics

Arthur Andersen, one of the most revered names in the pantheon of great professional service firms, has been indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with obstruction of justice in the Enron affair. Is this an isolated case? Not really, in the sense that large professional firms everywhere are facing many of the same […]

The Mindset Of Independent Wealth

I. IDEAS FOR ADDING VALUE AND BUILDING LOYALTY Developing The Mindset Of Independent Wealth What I’m about to describe is one of the most powerful things you can do to attract and keep clients. If you are successful at it, you’ll create a palpable aura around you that is enormously attractive not only to clients […]