The importance of knowing how to say NO on time

The job as counselor implies knowing how to say no in time when everyone bows their head and wants to remain silent. Enthusiasm becomes clouding vision and perseverance becomes foolishness when the ears are closed to the advice of someone who, from the outside, is seeing things objectively.

What do you think about Donald Trump’s advisors?

Donald Trump’s advisers may have accustomed to suffering. In one of the most extreme examples, we could imagine that no one can tell Mr. Trump that not everything that comes out of his mind is an idea worthy of being carried out.

Perhaps they do not dare to confront a furious leader who is not prepared to listen to a criticism of his initiatives, and there was no one on his team who knew how to warn him about the dangers a leader faces when surrounded by people who agree all time to his thoughts. And, just as it happens in the White House, it happens in big corporations or in entrepreneurship projects.

How difficult is it?

It is hard to tell someone that your idea is not as magnificent as you think. Especially, when the person who designed the initiative is a person who does not want to hear other reasons than his own. A good adviser is the one who diagnoses the possibilities that the adviser must create and maintain a context that is motivating to carry out a business, a project or a plan.

Of course, a consultant should look for the ways of how to get the idea to land, it is raising the vision to discover new ways to realize and make things go well, it is about put our knowledge and experience for your own benefit, and work hand in hand. However, we must not confuse ourselves. That does not mean that a consultant is a wizard who can raise his wand and transform scenarios to make everything feasible.

A good adviser knows how to listen

There are projects where the best thing that can happen is to have someone who says no. A person who has the courage to stop a project on time, to say that what you have in front of you is not an idea, it is an occurrence. That thing can save a lot of money and energy. Preventing a disaster is one of the duties of a good adviser. However, a no as an answer, it is not always welcome.

Sometimes the directors and entrepreneurs are like the king Hans Christian Andersen´s Emperor’s Costume describes. We let ourselves be seduced by an idea, we love it, and fall madly with it.

The people around us get to see the risk level involved, and realize that the probability of failure is very high, however, they remain silent. They prefer to shut their mouths so as not to be fools, not to look for a problem, and not disagree with anything. A good advisor is someone who knows how to carry out things to a great enthusiast, when he/she is about to fall into the gorge.