Is being right more important than getting results?

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like lately there have been a rash of incidents where somebody in conversation has been defending their own, or someone else's, behavior with the rationale that Person A's behavior is reasonable, justified, appropriate, etc. based on what Person B said or did.

The whole reason I was involved in these discussions was that in each case Person A wasn't getting the result they wanted and wasn't happy about it. They wanted to know how to get Person B to understand their wrong-ness.

For example -- Person A feels like they are getting crappy customer service from Person B. So Person A gets snippy with Person B, telling Person B how poorly she's doing her job. How likely is it that the customer service is going to get better? Maybe Person B was a jerk and maybe Person A is entirely justified in letting Person B have it. But if the end result is decent customer service, what can Person A do to achieve that end? Does Person A want to be right or get results?

We have to remember that just because our behavior may be justified that doesn't mean we're going to get the result we want.

Think about the results you want -- not whether or not you're right -- and act accordingly.