Walking in the other side’s shoes

Have you ever genuinely put yourself in the shoes of the people you work with?

I have — often in recent years — and it’s one of the most useful exercises I do, both as a founder and when I imagine how I’d want to work if I were on the other side.

I don’t only do this at work; it’s a habit across my relationships generally.

Client and vendor

Putting yourself in the shoes of someone paying for a service helps you see whether what you’re offering truly matches their expectations.

Putting yourself in the shoes of an employee or collaborator surfaces something else: value isn’t just doing the minimum asked — it’s helping build something that actually works and is hard to argue with.

People often expect compensation without returning value proportional to what was agreed. And I’m not talking about hours logged.

Over-delivering and trust

Personally I’d rather be at peace with myself and aim to over-deliver, especially early in a collaboration.

That’s when you build the most important credits.

Trust, autonomy, and credibility are what make a relationship stable.

Whether you’re a company or an individual, those credits buy you room over time.

Doing the minimum

Many people optimize for doing as little as possible.

In a small or mid-sized reality that approach rarely pays off — for the company or for the people in it — and it usually leads to friction and mutual frustration.

Again: I’m not talking about working longer hours.

I’m talking about working with method, with intensity, and with the goal of delivering real value.

In the end, whichever side of the table you’re on, that’s what makes the difference.