I must tell business owners and teams that you do not want to work with an “I told you so” person. When you’re working with someone who is a solution provider, as a business, you already have an idea of what you want and what you think the problem is. Sometimes that is wrong, and sometimes it is correct. You want to bring in a consultant or adviser to look at what you have set up and see if it’s okay, whether the solutions or ideas you have in mind are correct, feasible, or viable.
Now, we have solution providers and subject matter experts, and yes, that is fine and great. But sometimes only you really know what is going on in your business. That isn’t giving you the freedom to make out-of-this-world decisions or choices. If you’re level-headed, you’ve spoken with your team, and you see that this really is the best option for you, and you tell this person to carry on with it, maybe they’re hesitant to do it, but they do it after all, and it doesn’t work out.
A lot of what we do is, as much as we know these things can happen, we still want to try other options to see what works best, especially if that’s what you’re looking for. You don’t want to work with an “I told you so” person, someone who is gleeful that the solution you preferred didn’t work out. They’re happy when they see it fail. You don’t want to be with an “I told you so” person. It’s exhausting. You’re not going to be able to go to that person with your problems because, at the back of your mind, you already know they’re going to start the “I told you so” mantra: “This isn’t how it was supposed to be. This isn’t what I recommended.” It’s just not a situation you want to be in. It sucks, honestly.