Business Relationships: Don't Burn Bridges

Guest Blog from Tracey Jones, President of Tremendous Life Books.

In business relationships, don’t burn bridges.  

Let’s think about that analogy. A bridge is a pathway that leads us over an obstacle, right?  Sometimes, once we’ve gotten our use from the path—a relationship—especially if we weren’t particularly fond of it, we burn it. We think we’ll never need it again, use it again, want it again…and we destroy it. And not just with a hammer or saw, we do irrepreable damage. We turn it to ashes. 

But is this wise? What if we forgot our wallet on the other side? What if someone we love needs the bridge later?   

My dog, Mr. Blue, taught me about this principle.  He grew up supping at the knee of many great speakers and trainers, like Ken Blanchard and Zig Ziglar. They were his grandpaw’s pals. 

Blue says,“If you leave a playground because you have found another opportunity or the lead dogs have asked you to go, keep it professional. Don’t bark anything that you haven’t previously brought to the other’s attention. That’s just puppyish and not reflective of the big dog that you are. Definitely keep it above the collar. You never know when you might get called back to play or have a potential chum contact a previous one, to see if you’re worthy of his consideration.  Barking trash about anyone is a poor way to make an exit.”  

Relationships are everything in business. Don’t burn the path that you or someone you care about may desperately need again someday. Building your network is not done overnight, but destroying it can be. Read more from Blue here. 

 

Comments

[Jamie Shellman]

I like how you compared business relations with dogs. It made me smile. People should think first before they do something. That way, they won't regret anything. This is about the trust this company gives them. They should not ruin it.