Years ago, I worked at a law firm that wasn\u2019t a good fit for me. While I was there, I introduced a financial advisor to the firm\u2019s most successful partner, who had a thriving tax certiorari practice. The partner hired him, and I also referred one of my defined benefit plan clients to the advisor. It was a relationship that benefited everyone.<\/p>\n
After I left the firm, I later learned the advisor had asked the partner why I was gone. The partner\u2014who, ironically, lives in the same village I do\u2014described me as a \u201cloose cannon.\u201d Based on that one conversation, the advisor instructed his staff to stop working with me.<\/p>\n
He never called me.<\/p>\n
He never asked for my side of the story.<\/p>\n
He simply accepted one person\u2019s version of events and acted on it.<\/p>\n
Life has a funny way of playing out. Not long afterward, the advisor lost the very defined benefit client I had referred to him when one of his advisors left for another brokerage firm and took the relationship along.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not telling this story because I\u2019m bitter. That was a long time ago. I\u2019m telling it because it taught me one of the most valuable lessons I\u2019ve learned in both life and business.<\/p>\n
There are always two sides to a story.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve learned that the hard way.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s why I stay out of disputes that don\u2019t involve me. If two memorabilia dealers are feuding, I have no interest in picking a side. I tell my son the same thing. You rarely know the whole story, and once you insert yourself into someone else\u2019s conflict, you\u2019ve made it your conflict too.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve seen friendships ruined, business relationships destroyed, and reputations damaged because people were too quick to believe the first version they heard. Sometimes the truth is somewhere in the middle. Sometimes it\u2019s completely different from what you\u2019ve been told.<\/p>\n
One of the best pieces of business advice I can give is this: don\u2019t become a judge in a case where you haven\u2019t heard all the evidence.<\/p>\n
Stay out of other people\u2019s battles unless you have a compelling reason to be involved. You\u2019ll save yourself a lot of unnecessary grief.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a lesson I wish I had learned earlier.<\/p>\n
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