Bruno's Web Tip

Bruno Gideon is a regular columnist for the SCCC website. Bruno will share some of his wisdom with our readers by giving useful tips for everyday life and practical advice for today’s entrepreneurs.

Bruno will also love to hear back from our readers by e-mail.

Deadlock Destroys A Friendship.

He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.

– Chinese Proverbs

A friend of mine said with disappointment in her voice: “Alex doesn’t want to talk to me anymore. He hasn’t called me in six weeks!” “Why don’t you call him and find out what’s going on?” I said. Her response was classic: “Why should I call him if he doesn’t call me?” Deadlock! Why do we allow things like this to hurt us, instead of just picking up the phone and asking the simple “why” question? There may be a reason for the other person’s silence, but more likely it is the result of a misunderstanding. We have to find out: Losing a friend is too high a price to pay.

My friend did call Alex and found out that he had a health issue and was also a bit disturbed that she didn’t call him. They are okay again, but a simple phone call could have prevented all that drama. This makes me think of how I react to unanswered emails, a common occurrence in today’s world. If I ask something in an email and don’t get an answer, I resend it with the note: “I assume that my email got lost in cyberspace – here it is again” and an answer comes without delay.

Just a few days ago I learned of another disturbing incident. A friend of mine told me with a lot of anger in her voice that she received a letter from her friend’s lawyer, asking her to return some money that she had already paid months ago. “How could she do that to me after all I did for her” she said and was fuming. I advised her to swallow her anger and ask her friend in a pleasant email for an explanation and – you guessed it – it was a misunderstanding from the lawyer. A valuable friendship was almost destroyed because anger overrode clear thinking. Deadlock can have a costly price.

Are you in a situation where you need to break a deadlock? Do it now!