“I have no opinion”
Posted: June 30th, 2009 | Author: Tim | Filed under: culture, hustle, ideas | Tags: business, groups, management, organization, projects | 1,005 Comments »One of the most powerful and underused tools in any manager’s toolkit is “I have no opinion”. In fact, it’s useful for anyone who is asked to provide input on a thing.
Unless you’re contributing real value to a question — don’t answer it. Unless you can really answer “why do you hold this opinion” — unless you can really justify your position on something — don’t respond.
“I have no opinion” is polite. It means “I’m not going to clutter your head up with a non-valuable bunch of words.” It says “I have confidence in your ability to make the right decision.” It’s rewarding to the other person. It’s empowering.
See “Why Should I Care What Color the Bikeshed Is?” for a great in-depth discussion on this.
I have no opinion on this post.