You have to be radically honest with your clients. It’s more than just your job, it’s your duty.
You have to be willing to say the hard things as effortlessly as you say the positives—but without a trace of judgement or arrogance.
It has to come from a place of wanting to give people what they need to hear. But it also needs to be received by your client in a way they will internalize.
A good advisor finds the will and courage to say things as they are—good and bad—knowing they’re coming from a place of true advocacy.
But they must also do it with tact and self-awareness.
They must find the nuance in their tone and language to get their ideas across in a way the recipient needs to hear it. Otherwise, it’s like a seed cast onto the concrete, it will not grow.
You can’t be radically honest in the most genuine way without being a genuine advocate for your clients.
Be a true advocate for your clients and be radically honest.
(But maybe prepare your clients for it in advance so they’re not completely jarred when straight goods come their way.)