"No one can be right all of the time, but it helps to be right most of the time"
About this Quote
Perfection is an illusion, but accuracy compounds. Robert Half, a pioneer of modern staffing, distilled a pragmatic ethic: accept human fallibility while relentlessly improving your batting average. The aim is not to eliminate mistakes, but to reduce their frequency and severity through better judgment, preparation, and feedback.
Being right most of the time creates durable advantages. In business, a series of slightly-better-than-average decisions accumulates into a strong track record, attracting trust, clients, and opportunities. Credibility is essentially probabilistic; people rely on those whose calls tend to bear out. That reliability generates a virtuous cycle: better information flows to you, better people want to work with you, and your future decisions benefit from richer context.
The line also separates process from perfectionism. If the standard is never being wrong, caution calcifies into paralysis. A focus on being right most of the time prioritizes sound processes: clarifying assumptions, checking base rates, running small tests, soliciting dissent, and adjusting when reality contradicts your thesis. It invites humility. You will err, so design decisions to be reversible when possible, and keep exposure to catastrophic downside small. Reserve perfectionism for domains where errors are irreversible; accept a higher error rate where iteration is cheap.
Not all correctness carries equal weight. Being right on strategic, high-impact choices matters more than being right on trivia. Allocate effort accordingly, and build systems that surface the few crucial variables that dominate outcomes. In hiring, Half’s domain, this means emphasizing fit, values, and proven competencies more than glossy resumes; when those judgments are right most of the time, teams thrive and reputations grow.
Underneath the aphorism is a call to calibration: know your confidence levels, seek disconfirming evidence, and measure results. Over time, small edges, consistently applied, beat sporadic flashes of brilliance. The goal is progressive competence, not flawless clairvoyance.
Being right most of the time creates durable advantages. In business, a series of slightly-better-than-average decisions accumulates into a strong track record, attracting trust, clients, and opportunities. Credibility is essentially probabilistic; people rely on those whose calls tend to bear out. That reliability generates a virtuous cycle: better information flows to you, better people want to work with you, and your future decisions benefit from richer context.
The line also separates process from perfectionism. If the standard is never being wrong, caution calcifies into paralysis. A focus on being right most of the time prioritizes sound processes: clarifying assumptions, checking base rates, running small tests, soliciting dissent, and adjusting when reality contradicts your thesis. It invites humility. You will err, so design decisions to be reversible when possible, and keep exposure to catastrophic downside small. Reserve perfectionism for domains where errors are irreversible; accept a higher error rate where iteration is cheap.
Not all correctness carries equal weight. Being right on strategic, high-impact choices matters more than being right on trivia. Allocate effort accordingly, and build systems that surface the few crucial variables that dominate outcomes. In hiring, Half’s domain, this means emphasizing fit, values, and proven competencies more than glossy resumes; when those judgments are right most of the time, teams thrive and reputations grow.
Underneath the aphorism is a call to calibration: know your confidence levels, seek disconfirming evidence, and measure results. Over time, small edges, consistently applied, beat sporadic flashes of brilliance. The goal is progressive competence, not flawless clairvoyance.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
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