brentashley

Of all the qualities that make someone a good employee, friend, partner, or teammate, the most elusive is reliability.

A reliable person:

• arrives on time.
• calls if they are going to be late, BEFORE the appointed time if possible.
• does what they said they would do.
• pays what they owe, on time, in full, nothing less
• holds their end of a bargain or agreement.
• keeps promises.
• makes good on broken promises, WITHOUT being asked.

It all comes down to respect. A reliable person shows respect to others and earns it in return. All relationships, personal and business, stand or fall on reliability. Lapses in reliability can be tolerated if respect is shown and understanding sought, but unreliability without apology or explanation is unacceptable.

This post is the result of months of personal and business interactions, precious few of which were marked by any acceptable level of reliability.