When we were children, learning arithmetic, our teachers taught us 1+1+1-1=2.

For counting that arithmetic rings true.

For dealings between people that arithmetic does not ring true.

And this is an important aspect of people when it comes to doing business. Businesses receive many more letters of complaints than letters of commendation. When we read the paper, listen to the radio, and watch the TV we hear much more reporting of bad news about business than good news.

Business occurs across a spectrum. Commoditized business sits at one end of the spectrum. Relationship business sits at the other end. And, aside from the extreme of full-commoditization all business contains human interaction and so - human relationships.

When building relationships with people, negative interpersonal experiences tend to register more than positive interpersonal experiences. Stephen R. Covey talked about this in terms of an emotional bank account. He explained we must make regular positive deposits in order to build a positive account-balance with a person. As we show a string of positives, the other person trusts us. The bigger the positive account-balance the more the person trusts...the stronger the relationship. When the positive account-balance is large enough it should be able to withstand the impact of a negative experience we may deliver [intentionally or accidentally] to that person. And, sooner or later we will deliver a negative experience or the person will perceive we delivered a negative experience and that will amount to the same result - a reduction in the level of trust.

Unfortunately, the way relationships between people work, the negatives carry more weight than the positives. So, one single negative experience can sour a person's view and totally remove trust.

In business, this has wide implications for:

• clients,
• employees,
• owners &
• everyone else.