I am often surprised by how many people know what they want and yet fail to ask for it at the crucial moment (or for that matter altogether). This occurs in many different contexts. Sales people who can’t close because they don’t ask for the order. Employees who are unhappy with their role or compensation yet never ask for it to change. Business partnerships that are forever stuck at the negotiating phase. This is a recipe for slow failure which is the worst kind of failure. I am not suggesting that everyone always immediately put their ask on the table - that would mostly be rude. But if you never do, you will never get an answer. And the likelihood that the other party will correctly guess what you want and then just offer it approaches zero. So make sure to ask for it. In most cases you will learn something useful even if the answer is “no” (e.g., I am wasting my time on this customer).

I am often surprised by how many people know what they want and yet fail to ask for it at the crucial moment (or for that matter altogether). This occurs in many different contexts. Sales people who can’t close because they don’t ask for the order. Employees who are unhappy with their role or compensation yet never ask for it to change. Business partnerships that are forever stuck at the negotiating phase. This is a recipe for slow failure which is the worst kind of failure. I am not suggesting that everyone always immediately put their ask on the table - that would mostly be rude. But if you never do, you will never get an answer. And the likelihood that the other party will correctly guess what you want and then just offer it approaches zero. So make sure to ask for it. In most cases you will learn something useful even if the answer is “no” (e.g., I am wasting my time on this customer).