It's Not Always Right to Be Right

Chapter 1Law, Logic and Relationships

Quite an intense yet mischievous‐looking chap, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov.

He was a Russian physiologist best known for his work in the 1890s in the field of classical conditioning. His well‐known Pavlovian Theory involves pairing a stimulus with a conditioned response.

Relationships revolve around a similar concept: authenticity, vulnerability and transparency lead to levels of trust and partnership that in turn lead to breakthrough and transformation.

One is not possible without the other.

As Pavlov said, ‘Perfect as the wing of a bird may be, it will never enable the bird to fly if unsupported by the air.’

Without effective relationships, growth — and, indeed, flight — is not achievable.

THE MESSAGE

Despite the thousands of hours that we spend trying to master technical and functional skills, they matter little unless you can truly develop the art of relationship building. We all know this; leaders, managers and colleagues talk about it regularly, and we see daily success from those who are good at it. Despite this knowledge, however, we do bugger‐all about it. Hardly anyone in corporate life really knows how to focus on it, and, concerningly, even fewer know how to get better at it. Instead we consistently see brilliant individuals, whose ideas, innovations and creativity are phenomenal, fall at the very first hurdle. Conversely, I also feel sorry for people who are excellent at fostering relationships: seldom do they get recognised, ...