Assume You’re Wrong: The Power Of Unreserved Openness

Let’s say someone on your company’s leadership team says, “I want to run something by you. It’s been bothering me, and I want to share where my head is. After you hear it, tell me what you think.”

What’s your first thought when you hear this? If the shoe were on the other foot, would you ask the same of your team?

Giving feedback to a superior or peer can be intimidating, but rather than worrying about what you might say, take a moment to appreciate the situation. The other person wants your opinion and trusts you as a valued resource in their decision-making. How empowering is that?

You’ve experienced the benefit of a leader practicing unreserved openness, one of the critical elements of a future-ready mindstate as defined by Frederik G. Pferdt, Google’s first Chief Innovation Evangelist and author of “What’s Next Is Now: How To Live Future Ready”. ?

Much as it sounds, unreserved openness occurs when you seek opportunities to diverse incoming stimuli, ask for feedback on what you are proposing and welcome all thoughts about it.

In doing so, you are gradually building a healthy culture where coachable moments are commonplace and growth occurs long before a decision is made.

Frankly, the best approach in such an environment of unreserved openness is to assume you’re wrong. It is not that you necessarily are, but you should be open to suggestions from all directions.

If there’s one thing we’ve established in our discussions thus far about the future-ready mindstate, it’s that your actions still define the future and there could be a million different ways to go between here and your destination.

In other words, even if you were right, you wouldn’t be the only right way. So how do we accumulate more “right ways” encouraged through unreserved openness?

We must be genuine in accepting all initial questions and thoughts others may have. There are no “stupid questions,” and nothing discussed in a team setting should leave the room.

Just as importantly, do not overanalyze each piece of feedback as right or wrong based on logistics. Now is not the time to ask how you will do that. It’s the time to get answers and lots of them.

If you follow this approach, within one hour, you will have many different answers from trusted people close to you. What comes next will be just crucial to keep the momentum.

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Assessing the situation from an unbiased point of view

You’ve accumulated a great deal of directions you can go based on the suggestions of trusted allies looking out for your best interest.

The question is: Which one is the best to move forward in and how will you figure it out by yourself?

Try as you might, you can’t avoid some degree of bias. It requires a 3rd party who can assess the situation, bring some perspective and provide more data so you aren’t spending too much time chasing it.

As a result, you’ll have more knowledge to make a decision that considers all angles and can keep the initiative moving.

A Bridge CFO is one example of such a person. As the right-hand to the CEO, we can express our thoughts without any agenda and based purely on what we want to accomplish. Could an internal person do the same? Maybe.

An internal employee who is full-time and salaried may not see as much incentive to point out roadblocks. They could think, “He’s probably going to encounter a problem down the road, but ah, I won’t worry about it now. It’s not worth bringing up.”

Conversely, an independent advisor or Bridge CFO is expected to have an opinion and provide it with unfiltered honesty.

No matter how much the CEO favors one approach, a clear, fair view of the components of each potential solution is essential. It’s important to note that we aren’t seeking our opinion to “win” among other input sources but that you receive complete information on your options.

Whether or not you implement our recommendation is immaterial. You’re asking for our judgment to help you clarify a decision you’re comfortable with.

Unreserved openness and asking for input at every opportunity is an excellent way to feel more at ease with what you must do next. In doing so, you have a much greater chance of looking into the future with greater optimism.

After all, you’re not approaching that future alone.

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