This week’s random thought has to do with opinions. It’s probably going to be half-baked. The thought, that is.
I’m working on writing my first opinion piece about leadership development. Shoutout to my mom for giving me some good feedback and food for thought. It’s a delicate balance, standing behind an opinion without coming across as it’s ‘my way or the highway.’ My business partner, Greer, put it well:
I think you can have a powerful opinion without saying your way is best.
For fun, I looked up the definition of the word. The Googles say it’s ‘a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.’ The question on my mind is… are opinions inevitably divisive? For better or for worse. I was hoping that would have showed up in the definition, but alas I’m left to wonder.
I’m in this camp that, for some reason, is naturally inclined to agree with the thought, ‘You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.’ That well-worn expression seems to indicate some amount of divisiveness. After all, having an opinion means taking a stand, and risking possibly pissing someone off (to quote Kim Scott’s Radical Candor idea).
Maybe more importantly, is divisiveness inherently bad? Can it, in fact, be good? I did warn you this may be half-baked… Spoiler: more to come in the weeks ahead.
