Don't be afraid to ask yourself....

"Don't be afraid to ask yourself, "What am I missing? What do I not know yet?" All generalizations are false - including this one - yet we keep making generalizations. We create images - graven ones that can't be changed. We dismiss or accept people, products, programs and propaganda according to the labels they come under. We know a little about something, and we treat it like we know everything". Learn to be more discerning! It's easy to make decisions based on what you know, but there are always things you don't know. It's easy to choose a direction based on what you see, but what don't you see? We learn only when we're willing to ask, "What am I missing?" That question causes you, and those around you, to stop and think. It's easy to see what's obvious, but asking tough questions brings to the surface things that aren't obvious. Not asking questions is to assume (you get what you assume) that a project is potentially perfect and that if it's handled with care, there will be no problems. You learn in life, often painfully, that this simply isn't reality. Two things will stop you dead in your tracks: (a) Overanalyzing to the point that you're paralyzed and afraid to act. (b) Under analyzing an moving ahead before you have sufficient knowledge and wisdom to implement it.

"I want people to tell me on the front end, not after it's too late for their advice to help. Pushback before a decision is made is never disloyalty. You need to give them permission to ask hard questions and pushback against your ideas. That decision must be given to others by the leader. Too often leaders would rather have followers who turn a blind eye instead of ones who speak with a blunt tongue. But if all is quiet when decisions are being considered, it probably won't be quiet after it plays out." Sir Francis Bacon observed, "If a person will begin with certainties, he will end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he will end in certainties."

Thank you Charles D. Willis Jr.

Whyte23