Time & Perspective Quote by Robert Half

Half’s line is the kind of boardroom realism that flatters you while quietly raising the bar. It opens with a humane concession - perfection is impossible - then pivots to an unromantic standard: your credibility, your career, your company all depend on being right often enough that people bet on you. The phrase “it helps” is doing a lot of work. It’s understated, almost casual, as if “being right most of the time” were merely a nice-to-have. In practice, it’s a survival rule for anyone making calls with other people’s money, time, or jobs on the line.

The subtext is probabilistic before “data-driven” became a slogan. Half isn’t praising genius; he’s praising hit rate. In business, you don’t need omniscience - you need a track record that compounds. One great decision doesn’t redeem a long run of sloppy ones, and one error doesn’t destroy you if your process produces repeatable wins. “Most of the time” implies systems: hiring practices, forecasting discipline, feedback loops, and the humility to update your beliefs when the market corrects you.

There’s also a quiet moral posture here: accountability without melodrama. The quote licenses fallibility while refusing to let it become an alibi. That balance fits a mid-century business sensibility shaped by expansion, competition, and managerial professionalism - a world where confidence sells, but only consistency keeps the lights on.