Not since Aesop has one man done so much with fables. When author and consultant Patrick Lencioni was encouraged to write his first business book, he didn’t want his work to be abandoned by the readers after a chapter or two. Lencioni decided to use a format he calls “the business fable.” He writes a story and uses the plot to demonstrate his principles. His latest business fable is, “Getting Naked: A Business Fable About Shedding the Three Fears that Sabotage Client Loyalty.” The book details the development of “naked consulting” and Lencioni’s belief in telling clients the truth all of the time. Lencioni talked with Smart Business about the three fears that sabotage loyalty and why honesty wins every time.
A difficult economy plays directly into the first fear, ‘Fear of Losing the Business,’ that you discuss in the book. How can managers communicate the need to protect the bottom line without being dishonest with clients?
You just have to try being honest. To ask a reader to accept this on face value and to think it’s going to be easy is unrealistic. We’ve always been taught to do the smart thing, get the business and don’t risk it. Yet, when we tell people the kind truth, they respond in a way that makes the relationship with us greater than it would have ever been. It’s a very uncomfortable proposition at first. Every time I do it, there’s a little hesitation on my part. And I just have to remind myself that good things happen when you provide the kind truth.
The second fear is ‘Fear of Being Embarrassed.’ Is this merely down to pride?
It can be, but I think for most people, it’s not pride. It’s the fear that they’re going to get punished for admitting a mistake. What all three fears are really about is recognizing that excellence requires levels of discomfort that many people just aren’t willing to endure. If we’re not willing to be uncomfortable in our lives, whether it’s our personal or professional lives, we’re not going to achieve great things because we’re going to try to stay safe. All great relationships are based on people willing to be uncomfortable with one another.
The third fear, ‘Fear of Feeling Inferior,’ is interesting. Is it true that this can cause vendors to feel superior to their own paying clients?
Absolutely. Pride probably factors its way into this fear as much as it does any other. Sometimes it leads consultants to actually look down on their clients. We have to realize a simple fact. When people talk about servant leadership, you really have to put yourself in a position of subservience to your clients. You have to overcome pride and ask yourself the question of why you are really in this job. Is it to really help your clients, or is it to build up your own ego and status?
You tell some very personal stories in this book. How important was it to write about your own experiences to show your belief in the methodology?
I have to tell you that while practicing this method, we endured some really uncomfortable moments. Virtually every time we endured those moments, we found that in the end, it benefited us because we put the client’s needs ahead of our own. That meant that there were some ugly, difficult and painful moments for us. There were times when we had to take a bullet for a client and someone would just rip into us for something that wasn’t our issue. We had to stand there and take it, and as a result of that, the loyalty of that client was extraordinary. In that moment, did I enjoy it? No. But it’s the willingness to endure those things that demonstrate that we’re more interested in the client’s well-being than our own.
Getting Naked
By Patrick Lencioni
Jossey-Bass ©2010, 240 pages, $24.95
