DO YOU WANT YOUR ATTORNEY TO SAY ‘I DON’T KNOW’?
A lesson to learn from William Swanson
Today I received ‘Swanson’s (Un)Written Rules of Management‘. William Swanson is Raytheon’s Chairman and CEO. In the preface of this little book, he explains that listening has always been very important to him; it should be important to lawyers / attorneys, too!
In this book, Swanson gives 25 straightforward directives. Only one rule will be mentioned here, which is Rule number 1: Learn to say ‘I don’t know.‘; if used when appropriate, it will be used often.
If people meet with their lawyer / attorney, many of them will notice that he (or she) does most of the talking and is showing how intelligent and successful he (or she) is all the time. According to Swanson, if you don’t know the answer, then simply say ‘I don’t know‘. And if you should know, learn for the next time, or at least volunteer to get the answer. He believes, and I guess he is right, that if you behave this way, you will be respected for your honesty and candor.
Karel Frielink
Attorney (Lawyer) / Partner
