Our Doubts Are Traitors.

It is not only the hostility of others that may prevent us from questioning the status quo.

Our doubt can be fuelled by an internal sense that group opinions must have a sound basis, even when we are not sure what this basis may be, often because they have been adhered to by so many people for a long time.

“We’ve always done it like this”.  Its the brave soul who will reject this rationale and position themselves as a doubter, a trouble maker, a contrarian.

Too many, it seems implausible that our ‘business’ or colleagues could be gravely mistaken in their beliefs – and at the same time that we would be alone in noticing the fact.

We stifle our doubts and follow the herd because we cannot conceive of ourselves as champions of previously unsurfaced, difficult truths.

Stifling doubts is a sure fire formula for killing self confidence.

The exceptional thing about mature team members is that they see themselves as responsible for helping each other surface their doubts. They’ll call out the team mates who they believe are harbouring doubt and therefore, lacking commitment to an idea.