In a recent visit with a family member to a trusted doctor, I was struck by the doctor's willingness and insistence upon introducing us to a colleague at a competing practice to seek a second opinion on a different approach to the issue at hand. This doctor is highly respected as a medical provider and as a person. What prompted his recommendation for us to seek a second opinion was a question that the patient asked about an alternative procedure to the one he recommended.
There was no ill will or ego that kept him from making the recommendation to get a second opinion from a colleague. His intent was to provide us with an opinion from someone who performs many more of the alternative procedures than he performs, and to ensure that whatever decision we made as patient (and family) was what we believed was the right course of action for us. The last thing he wanted was to perform a procedure on a patient that a) wasn't fully educated, and b) wasn't fully in support of the path we were taking to seek resolution.
This act by our doctor gained him even greater respect from us. We learned firsthand why his recommendation was the best recommendation, and we resolved any conflicts in our mind about what was the best course of action for us. His lack of ego also gave us tremendous confidence that he wanted what was in our best interests, and his recommendations were in no way rooted in his selfish motivations. This scenario gave us tremendous peace of mind in our decisions to pursue his recommended course of treatment.
Remember that your clients want to know that your recommendations are what's best for them, not what's best or just convenient for the doctor. As we witnessed first hand, humility builds trust.
