Getting Naked: A Business Fable About Shedding The Three Fears That Sabotage Client Loyalty (J-B Lencioni Series)

236 Pages·2010·1.24 MB·English

by  Patrick Lencioni

Getting
Naked
Also by Patrick Lencioni
Leadership Fables
The Five Temptations of a CEO
The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Death by Meeting
Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars
The Three Signs of a Miserable Job
The Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family
Field Guide
Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Getting
Naked
A BUSINESS FABLE ABOUT SHEDDING
THE THREE FEARS THAT SABOTAGE
CLIENT LOYALTY
Patrick Lencioni
Copyright©2010byPatrickLencioni.Allrightsreserved.
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Lencioni,Patrick,1965-
Gettingnaked:abusinessfableaboutsheddingthethreefearsthatsabotageclient
loyalty/PatrickLencioni.
p.cm.
ISBN978-0-7879-7639-2(cloth)
1.Customerloyalty.2.Customerrelations.I.Title.
HF5415.525L462010
658.8’12—dc22
2009046010
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
FIRSTEDITION
HBPrinting 10987654321
CONTENTS
Introduction vii
The Fable
Part One: Theory 3
Part Two: Practice 17
Part Three: Research 69
Part Four: Testimony 119
The Model
The Origins of Getting Naked 195
Naked Service Defined 197
Shedding the Three Fears 201
Broader Applications of Nakedness 214
Acknowledgments 215
About the Author 219
v
This book is dedicated to all The Table Group consulting
partners around the world who are practicing naked
service with clients every day.
INTRODUCTION
V
ulnerability. It is one of the most undervalued and misunder-
stood of all human qualities.
Without the willingness to be vulnerable, we will not
build deep and lasting relationships in life. That’s because
there is no better way to earn a person’s trust than by
putting ourselves in a position of unprotected weakness and
demonstrating that we believe they will support us.
Yetsocietyencouragesustoavoidvulnerability,toalways
project strength, confidence, and poise. Although this is cer-
tainly advisable in some situations in life, when it comes
to important, ongoing relationships, it stifles our ability to
build trust.
For those who provide service to clients, vulnerability
is particularly powerful. Those who get comfortable being
vulnerable—or as I call it, naked—are rewarded with levels
of client loyalty and intimacy that other service providers can
only dream of.
WheneverIexplainthistoanaudience,Iamoftenasked,
‘‘But can’t you be too vulnerable?’’ Surprisingly, the answeris
no.Ofcourse,ifyoucometoyourclientseverydayadmitting
thatyou’ve madeyet anothermistakeor thatyou don’t know
vii
Introduction
how to do yet another required element of your job, that
would be a serious problem. But it would be not an issue of
vulnerability, but rather of competence; the problem would
not lie in the admitting of so many weaknesses, but in the
having of them!
Which reminds me of the flaw in that old adage neverlet
them see you sweat. The truth is, our clients almost always
knowwhen we are sweating,often before we do.Andso we
haveachoice.Wecaneitherpretendwe’renotsweatyandtry
tohideourweaknesses,andthenwatchourcredibilityerode.
Or we can raise up our arms, acknowledge our sweatiness,
and show them that we are honest and self-assured enough
to be worthy of their trust.
Ifthisissosimplein theory—andI’llbethefirsttoadmit
that it is—then why do we so often resist being naked with
clients?
For one, we think it will hurt our chances for success.
We fail to realize that, even though clients require us to be
competent enough to meet their needs, it is ultimately our
honesty,humility,andselflessnessthatwillendearustothem
and allow them to trust and depend on us.
But even if we cometo understandthis on an intellectual
level, most of us will still struggle with vulnerability because
we are human beings who don’t like to be weak, which
means we are subject to the completely natural but irrational
fears that make us uncomfortable being naked. This book is
about overcoming those fears, which is not easy. It requires
levels of self-sacrifice and discomfort—and, at times, real
suffering—that few people are willing to endure.
So naked service is rare, which means it provides
an opportunity for a powerful and tangible competitive
viii