The Customer Is Not Always Right.
Good service isn’t just responsiveness - it’s judgment
Early in my career, I was lucky enough to work for Brad Hoylman-Sigal.
As an aide in his office, I spent a lot of time helping constituents resolve issues with government agencies—in other words, a lot of customer service.
At some point, he commissioned a custom needlepoint that read: “The Customer Is Always Right.”
It hung in the office like a quiet mandate, and, at least to me, a bit of a running joke.
At the time, it felt like a high bar. Now, I think it was also a pretty effective way to make a serious point stick. And it did.
I took those words to heart. They shaped how I approached service throughout my twenties: be responsive, be accountable, be solutions-oriented. Assume the person on the other end has a real problem and that it’s your job to help solve it.
That instinct has stayed with me.
What I didn’t understand at the time was that the meaning of that phrase changes depending on the role you’re in.
What changed
When you work inside government, responsiveness is the work.
When you’re an advisor, judgment is.
And that’s where things get more complicated.
Because sometimes clients are convinced their political analysis is right—even when the landscape has shifted.
Sometimes they ask for a deliverable that won’t move the work forward.
Sometimes they default to endless check-ins, thinking more touchpoints will create clarity, when it often does the opposite.
And yes, sometimes it shows up as micromanagement—usually a symptom of uncertainty, pressure, or stakes that feel very real.
None of that makes someone unreasonable.
But it does mean they’re not always right about how to get where they want to go.
The work, then, isn’t to agree.
It’s to translate.
To take what a client is asking for and understand what sits underneath it—what they’re trying to achieve, what they’re worried about, what they may not be saying out loud.
Sometimes clients hire advisors precisely because they need someone who isn’t fully inside the pressure of the moment.
And then to respond with something more useful than a simple yes.
Sometimes that looks like:
“I don’t think this deliverable gets us where we need to go.”
“The analysis might be right in one context, but not in this one.”
“More meetings won’t solve this. We need a clearer decision point.”
Not as a rejection.
But as a redirection.
The line
Most of the time, the work is translation.
But not always.
Sometimes you’ve asked the questions.
You’ve offered alternatives.
You’ve explained the tradeoffs.
And the answer is still:
No.
Not because you’re being difficult.
Not because you’re trying to win a point.
But because moving forward would waste time, resources, or credibility, and part of the job is protecting all three.
Sometimes the most responsible answer you can give is:
No.
I still believe in the spirit of that needlepoint.
People deserve to be heard.
They deserve responsiveness.
They deserve respect.
But they don’t always need to be agreed with.
And in my experience, the best client relationships aren’t built on deference.
They’re built on trust - the kind that allows you to say: this isn’t the way, and here’s what might be.
Final thought
The customer isn’t always right.
But they should always feel like you’re working in their best interest, even when that means pushing back, redirecting, or, occasionally, drawing a hard line.
Because good service isn’t just responsiveness.
It’s judgment.
Maya, I really appreciated the distinction between responsiveness and judgment, because many people confuse good service with constant agreement when mature stewardship often requires discernment. The point about translation stood out especially; strong advisors often have to hear the request beneath the request and respond to the underlying need, not just the immediate ask. That kind of pushback, when rooted in trust and credibility, can be one of the clearest forms of service. Thank you for framing this with such clarity and practical wisdom.