Gratuitous?
I was told today by a fairly well-known individual via email (referring to himself):
“One of the reasons people in many companies will talk to me is that I don't insult their stuff gratuitously.”
Gratuitous: being without apparent reason, cause, or justification.
I am left scratching my head on that one. I don’t write here or at Mac Performance Guide to make friends or gain special favor or influence at any company, and I won’t compromise my integrity or play it down or hush it up for personal gain. I do it to serve my readers with the best possible information, the truth about products of any kind, to the best of my ability. That has not won me friends or special treatment at several companies. In fact, I’m persona non grata at one of those companies. Their loss.
Who do you trust for your information?
Of course, the irony and punishment is that it’s very bad business for a company to not acknowledge and respond to criticism as the most valuable of all feedback (even if it hurts), as a means of product improvement and staying competitive. Not all issues can be addressed quickly or easily, but the ostrich approach and/or silence or denial is doomed. Witness Toyota’s botched handling of a largely invented problem.
I intend to continue doing what I’ve been doing for the last five years. Thanks for reading!
