I cannot tell you how much I appreciate candor. And candor has a reward.
A few weeks ago, a friend from high school told me that he had been harboring some negative feelings towards me because of the way I had treated him about 4 years ago.
It hurt to hear that, of course. But, my respect for him skyrocketed.
And his commitment to maintaining the relationship was evident.
So, I offered to buy him lunch and talk about it.
We did. There were elements of misunderstanding and miscommunication, but the important thing is, we cleared the air.
And, we came out of it with a newfound appreciation for each other's strenghts...and now we are off helping each other build our respective businesses.
Being frank is difficult. People like to avoid confrontation (for the most part), but if you have the strength and the humility to approach it in a respectful way, I think it's worth it.
OK, go ahead and vent about me now :-)