What's key in guiding customers?

"In giving advice, seek to help, not please, your friend."
Solon

Over the past couple of months I've been working on some pretty confidential stuff that made it very difficult for me to share on this blog. However, as I seek to guide my customers towards maximal achievement of their personal and business potential, there is definitely one thing that I am faced with on a near permanent basis: telling them what they need to hear and not what they would like to hear. As an external contributor to their business, I consider integrity as my key asset because it provides the bedrock of coherence, rigorous analysis and compassionate advice. So of course, one of the things I am careful not to let customers do is use me to justify their decisions regardless whether I agree or not with their decisions. Hence the quote above.