September 21st 2007 02:21 pm
Have opinions
We live in a world where it is increasingly unacceptable behavior to rock the boat. Legions of well meaning people in all walks of life spend a good part of their working life avoiding controversy, staying away from potentially damaging decision making and generally covering their collective rear ends. That’s my opinion. Is it based in fact and logic? On some levels, yes and on others it represents an intuitive summing up of a particular set of ideas. Having and expressing opinions serves several purposes. An opinion is an idea that you have put together out of your life experience. As such it is interesting as a glimpse into your character and it shows that you have ideas and are willing and able to express them. Taking a stance also forces you to defend your ideas and determine whether they stand up to scrutiny. Finally, people respect others who are willing to take a reasonable stand and defend it against its detractors. It shows character.
The downside of being opinionated is when you refuse to consider the opinions of others or when you are parroting something you have heard elsewhere without understanding the thought behind it. Another important lesson about having opinions leads us to Secret # 12: Admit When You’re Wrong (next post).
1 Comment »
The Entrepreneurial Savant » Admit when you’re wrong on 21 Sep 2007 at 2:24 pm #
[…] As we’ve seen, there is value in having opinions and being willing to discuss and defend them in public. However, when you are unwilling to admit that you have made an error or missed a step in your thinking, you go from having opinions to being an opinionated blockhead. The ability to admit errors and incorporate lessons learned from mistakes is essential to success. Not learning from your mistakes dooms you to repeat them and life is too short to do stupid things over and over. […]