Broadly, there are 2 types of waiters that we come across at a restaurant.
The majority of the waiters will simply take orders… and maybe give you a few suggestions here and there.
There is a group of waiters who are different.
They are more human.
They would warn you if you are on the verge of making a mistake. For example, they may tell you that you are over-ordering.
Or they may tell you that you might not like the beer that you are thinking of ordering.
Similarly, when we shop for clothes, there are a few salesmen who would not have any opinion whatsoever.
They would play it safe.
If you ask them which is better, the red shirt or the blue shirt, they would say, “It is your choice. Both look nice.”
But then there is a rare breed of salesmen who would give their opinion.
When asked if a red shirt is better or the blue one, they would ask you intelligent questions like, “What is the colour of the pants that you would be wearing?” or “Would you wear this for meetings or just casually?”
Based on these answers, they would give you their opinion.
The thing is, playing it safe feels very comfortable. Not giving your opinion, in order to help the client might seem like a safe bet.
But in reality, we always respect those people who are giving us their opinions in order to help us.
Our job is not to play it safe. Our job is to help our clients with the best of our intentions.
Our job is to lead our clients to a better place.