I’m from Coleraine, a town in Northern Ireland. I’ve known someone for a number of years — he lives about an hour away, not here.
Recently, I engaged with him about Coleraine BID issues. Passwords, agreements, and the small but crucial details that make everything work.
I had the answers. But the whole time, it was like he was looking down at me. Talking over me. Brushing past the points that actually mattered.
He thought he knew. He didn’t.
That’s the trap of being a big fish in a small pond. You get so used to filling the room with your voice that you stop hearing anyone else’s. You confuse volume with wisdom.
But business improvement isn’t about talking louder, or looking smarter. It’s about listening. It’s about understanding. It’s about respecting the people who know the ground you’re standing on.
Ignore that, and it doesn’t matter how big a fish you think you are — you’re just splashing around in someone else’s pond.