Kundun Consulting

In my role as a trusted advisor I often am asked to provide my advice on how a particular issue should be dealt with. I often have to ‘adjudicate” on whether I see the merit in pushing an issue to a level past “comfort”

All too often the answer - yes but NO!.

Justice is a word that we all like to think actually occurs. We want to believe that if we are doing the proper thing and if we are “right” then we will triumph in the end.

Well unfortunately the pursuit of justice often ends in a big screaming heap!

I would dearly love to tell you a glowing story of how the underdog came out and took on Goliath and beat him. I would love to tell you how they received everything owed to them and some more to compensate for the discomfort of having to enforce their rights and I would dearly love to tell you about the lawyers whose advice ended in smiles all round. But that is a story that I tell my daughter before she heads of into the land of nod.

Sometimes even when you are right - you lose.

The moral of the story is to always take a position that lets you live to fight another day. If you are a real estate agent and your competitor won’t hand over the authorities that they are required too, or if you are a lawyer whose client has elected to go to a new practice headed up by your recently resigned senior associate - sometimes it is simply better to let it slide.

Long drawn out legal battles only ever make one group of people happy - the legal profession. I definitely tale the position that a bird in the hand is better than 2 in the bush - so keep our hard earned cash in your pocket and live with the irritation. Let them think that they have been able to get one over you - then go out and take market share - hurt them where it really matters.

You never know - all that bitterness, anger and frustration may have a silver lining after all if you channel it into the right areas.

And finally a word of clarification. There are times when you will have to enforce your rights. You will have to sit down with your lawyer and work out a strategy. Just be sure that it does not consume you and keep it in perspective. Unless it is earth shattering sometimes a compromise is the best result.