This is an argument that is oftentimes employed by those who call for stringent, more draconian laws. “If you haven’t done anything wrong and have nothing to fear, then why don’t you support this initiative?”
I will not go into the details of whether laws are good to be very punishing or not and why (for the record, I believe that the greatest challenge of most western democracies, isn’t the absence of laws, but rather, the slow pace at which justice is served).
In case you didn’t know, this argument is also employed by your prospective clients, albeit most often, they don’t express it. They do think about it though…
Just consider the psychological impact that a 10-page contract is creating to the other party, when eight out of these 10 pages (and I am not exaggerating) are disclaimers. “If you have nothing to fear, then why all this?” And of course, the problem aren’t the “normal” disclaimers (e.g. “I won’t be held liable for project failure in case of force majeure”). What drives people mad are the unprofessional disclaimers. I remember reading the engagement letter of an audit firm, writing “we will not be held liable for not spotting any issues that may result in a material misstatement of the financial statements, but were not brought up to us by management.” Really now? Then what will you be held liable for, I wonder? Isn’t the auditor’s job to *gasp!* audit?
How professional would it sound if I wrote in an engagement letter of mine that I won’t be held liable for material misstatements in a business plan if I haven’t met and discussed with the management in advance? Meeting the management of a company which you help prepare a business plan, is an integral part of the job description, how can I exclude myself from liability if I have not been OK with my work?
“Car nerds” used to make fun of people who bought Hyundai cars. Because they were cheap, they were also considered inferior. But Hyundai didn’t get to where it is today merely because of its pricing policy. Its warrantee policy was also far superior to those of competitors. As a friend once put it “Well if the German cars are indeed superior to Korean, then how come the average German car gives a five-year warrantee and the average Korean car, seven? I don’t think the Koreans want to go bankrupt by fixing cars for free.”
So next you provide a service or a product, think: What is it that you fear? Why can’t you be more generous with either your disclaimers, or your warrantees to your customers? After all, you never know how well you could do until you change something.