Opinions come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Some are grounded in facts and data, while others are situated in experience and intuition. Good leaders consider everyone’s opinions while forming their own.
But they don’t hold everyone’s opinion and influence as equal. The source and background of the opinion help to define how seriously it should be taken.
Good leaders contemplate why people believe what they believe as they create their own view. Leaders naturally overweigh opinions from those they trust and who have a track record of being right.
Rationally, they give more weight to the opinions of subject-matter experts, those with skin in the outcome, and to those who gather evidence to support their claims.
In contrast, good leaders don’t give much opinion credit to those who talk the loudest, don’t have to live with the consequences, and have self-interest in the matter at hand.
They do their best not to overweigh the opinions of those with higher status just because they have positional authority. However, among the many judgments that color how they treat the opinions of others, good leaders are especially on guard about opinions that come from fear and insecurity.
Opinions that spring from fear can be the most emotional, passionate, and convincing. The energy people have when they express such opinions can be highly persuasive.
But they are usually wrong or ill-considered. While fearful opinions contain valuable insights about the risk and safety issues involved, they typically don’t hold up when interrogated for their reasoning and logic.
For good leaders, the inability of the opinion holder to separate emotion from evidence commonly negates some or all of their influence. An opinion without any supporting evidence is just conjecture.
Allowing the fearful or insecure voices to carry too much weight almost always leads to inferior decisions. The key for leaders is to quickly discern when an opinion or viewpoint is fear-based so they can treat it accordingly.
The telltale sign exists in the language cues that accompany the opinion. Fear-based opinions commonly incorporate absolutist language, such as always/never and good/bad, unsupported by proportional evidence.
Another sign is a preoccupation with image and status. Opinions grounded in insecurity often fixate on how others will view an outcome or decision, or how high-status people will judge a choice.
Heavy emphasis on rules, process, and procedure is also a telltale sign that an opinion may be coming from fear. When people speak of getting in “trouble” or possibly taking blame, their opinion often reflects fear and not balanced judgment.
Of course, an opinion offered with high anxiety and low openness, coupled with defensiveness or a rejection of alternate views, is a surefire sign that an opinion is fear-based. Opinions steeped in fear and insecurity pose a challenge for leaders who like to consider everyone’s view, as they should.
Confusing fear and facts can be difficult in the moment, especially with people they trust. But once judged to be grounded in fear, an opinion must be given less weight, or a leader stands the chance of forming an overly protective and cautious opinion.
When fear and facts appear together, the facts must win.
