Best Advice: You Might Be Wrong, And That's Okay

This post is part of a series in which LinkedIn Influencers share the best advice they've ever received. Read all the posts here.

I start by fully acknowledging that the best advice I ever received contradicts its own admonition: “Never say never and never say always.” The immense value and impact of this oxymoronic phrase as a life lesson entitles it to serve as an exception to its own rule.

Politicos might see the advice as a caution for avoiding the snare of a gotcha media net that is always a Google click away from catching a hypocrisy or proving a lie. President George H.W. Bush’s famous declaration “Read my lips, no new taxes” was read as a pledge to never raise taxes. Many believe it was his undoing. Certainly, hedging your words to allow a little wiggle room is a political maxim, but it really is not the import of the advice to never say never or always.

Rather, at its core, the principle encourages you to swear off certitude. Our culture today is polluted with the babbling of people so certain they are right that they dismiss with utter disdain alternative views. They refuse to admit even the slightest doubt in their positions. It leads to hubris and arrogance that provides no space for reflection, compromise or even civility. We have a culture that admires the all-knowing expert, without appreciating how vast the unknown and unknowable really are.

As David Weinberger cautions in his excellent book Too Big to Know, the web may prove more a tool for validating answers one wants than serving as the source of authoritative information. As our society has moved from a culture of character to a cult of personality the strident celebrity voice is louder than ever.

However, even in a world where we have limitless access to information and knowledge, doubt is not a weakness, it is a sign of wisdom. The recognition that you could be wrong is the mark of someone pursuing truth. It is the wise person who has the humility and self-awareness to understand that he can only form an opinion based on what he knows at a moment in time, which is a tiny tip of the iceberg.

Recognizing this helps drive rigor in one’s thinking and sparks curiosity to never stop exploring positions, thoughts, ideas, theories and mysteries. Knowing you might be wrong keeps your mind open to see things to which certainty blinds you. Retaining skepticism empowers you to question the expert; whether one selling you a stock or telling you to replace your transmission. Indeed, the continued progression of scientific understanding is due in no small measure to the scientific method that requires doubt and proof and only allows the scientist to form a hypothesis, always subject to both revision and even abandonment.

I have seen Madeline Albright quoted as saying “Be confident, not certain.” This captures the sentiment exactly. Confidence comes from work and preparation. A confident person commands attention. But leaving room for your own errors and being alert to the possibility of evolution or revision is the stance of Sage.

We can trace this philosophy well back in world history where in a letter to General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Oliver Cromwell wrote, “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.”

These are wise words which have guided world leaders and can also guide us in our careers and lives.

Photo: Przemek T / Flickr