Professionals Not as Good at Listening

If you won't listen to me, listen to your clients.

Why is it so difficult for service providers to sit face to face with a client and ask them "How am I doing?" Fear is probably the biggest obstacle. There are likely other issues. I find it difficult to ask my own clients for feedback and I'm in the business of capturing client feedback! There's no simple explanation. But I do know how crucial the feedback is.

A lawyer in a big corporation was telling me about how annoyed he was with the big fancy New York law firm serving him. When they hired an outside consultant to listen to his feedback he unloaded all his grievances. What a concept (said with sarcasm).