One of the weirder experiences most of us can relate to is being in a meeting where nearly all of the participants disagree with the decision being made, but the power dynamics keep anyone in the room from objecting. It’s never a great feeling, and it seems to happen for a few different reasons
I'm not one to extol the virtues of failure. I get annoyed whenever people talk about “celebrating failure.” That said, there are some benefits to getting your ass handed to you every once in a blue moon.
Investing time, money and energy into a strategy, only to have the market not respond is like taking a punch. You might not get knocked out, but the effect of multiple blows can take a toll on your confidence and enthusiasm.
I nearly scrapped this column, because they’re not bad ideas per se. Both are still in fashion today, especially in the startup-o-sphere, and like many popular ideas there's more than a grain of truth to them. But these two ideas have run themselves ragged, and I see them doing more harm than good when I encounter them.
Usually, what we fear in a heated debate is not so much our feelings our feelings getting hurt but rather our professional credibility and stature being challenged. I find that Idea conflicts are best understood along two dimensions: the relative seniority of the debating parties and their relative expertise. In any idea conflict in which you find yourself engaged, you can categorize the person you engage as having more, less, or equal seniority as you and whether their domain expertise is the same, different, or partially overlapping your own...
