That doesn’t mean we should never hedge, but it certainly means that we should use hedges more deliberately.

Sometimes we hedge on purpose. We want to signal uncertainty, that we’re not sure, or that

an outcome is unclear. And if that’s the goal, hedging can be great. But often we hedge without even realizing it. We’re so used to qualifying statements that we toss in a hedge just because. And that’s a mistake.

... “I think” or “In my opinion” limits our impact. It makes us seem less confident that others will draw the same conclusions, which makes others less likely to follow our lead.

When the practical or emotional investment in the outcome of a thinking pair is potentially high, the chances of its working are potentially low. And with independent thinking you just never know what territory it will wander aimfully into. So I would look somewhere more lateral for this partner.

The problem is that there might be better ideas out there, just beyond the edge of our vision. But we accept early closure because letting go of a judgment is painful and disconcerting. To search for a new insight, one would have to put aside the comfort of being oriented and once again cast around in choppy waters for a new source of stability. There is the fear of coming up empty-handed. Plus, it is unnatural, even painful, to question our own ideas.

It’s easy to take comfort in the fact that other people agree with us. As legendary investor Warren Buffett pointed out, though, “The fact that other people agree or disagree with you makes you neither right nor wrong. You will be right if your facts and reasoning are correct.”

The people executing established practices say they want new ideas, but they don’t want the bad ones. And because they so want to avoid the bad ones, they never deviate enough to find good ones.