I prefer "weak opinions, strongly held", as in, "I don't know. And I am pretty sure you don't either." Won't sell me any books, but it's been my experience.
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‘Strong Opinions, Weakly Held’ Doesn't Work That Well
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Re: ‘Strong Opinions, Weakly Held’ Doesn't Work That Well
#42I prefer "weak opinions, strongly held", as in, "I don't know. And I am pretty sure you don't either." Won't sell me any books, but it's been my experience.
What is the practical implication of that? "Strong opinions, weakly held" means (IIUC) make a decision, but be open to changing it if data points to it being wrong. It helps avoid the trap of looking for perfect data to make a perfect decision. Can you provide a practical application of "weak opinions, strongly held"?
It stops you from making a decision too early.
Re: ‘Strong Opinions, Weakly Held’ Doesn't Work That Well
#43> For instance, Steve Jobs was famous for arguing against one position or another, only to decide that you were right, and then come back a month later holding exactly your opinion, as if it were his all along. Unrelated to the larger theme of the post, but I absolutely hate it when people do this. I thought it sounded like a silly parable until I saw people do it in real life. At which point I concluded it was some…
Honestly, as somebody who suffers from "strong opinions, weakly held" I make it a point to include names in my notes on design ideas of who first suggested something so when I pivot to "my old plan is stupid we need to go that way" I can say so-and-so's plan.
Re: ‘Strong Opinions, Weakly Held’ Doesn't Work That Well
#44> For instance, Steve Jobs was famous for arguing against one position or another, only to decide that you were right, and then come back a month later holding exactly your opinion, as if it were his all along. Unrelated to the larger theme of the post, but I absolutely hate it when people do this. I thought it sounded like a silly parable until I saw people do it in real life. At which point I concluded it was some…
I have this "theory" that one trait of successful people is forgetfulness. In my experience they tend to forget their mistakes and also forget the source of their successful ideas.
Then they should take more notes.
Re: ‘Strong Opinions, Weakly Held’ Doesn't Work That Well
#45"Strong opinions, weakly held" makes sense in exactly one situation:
When you are definitely an expert in a topic you should have your strong opinions about it.
But since everybody is sometimes wrong about something, and that should be very seldom in the expert case, you should be able to let go of one of your opinions, in case you get counter-arguments.
Re: ‘Strong Opinions, Weakly Held’ Doesn't Work That Well
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
On the other hand, when faced with a fork in the road, it's important to choose. Often it doesn't matter which - but if you vacillate, and especially if you are leading - then you can fail by not choosing. So, strong opinions: decisively go down one road; weakly held: turn around if information suggests it looks like the wrong road. You can only update your opinions if you engage with reality, which demands a certain…
> On the other hand, when faced with a fork in the road, it's important to choose. Often it doesn't matter which - but if you vacillate, and especially if you are leading - then you can fail by not choosing. The number of times people think they are at such a fork where non-action is worse than any action is an order of magnitude more than in reality. In my experience, most of these cases are reflective of a social i…
Not sure where I heard it but: "No decision is a decision."
IE Decide to put off your decision until later.
People agitating for everyone to "voice their opinion now" are often looking to form a mandate from those opinions.
Re: ‘Strong Opinions, Weakly Held’ Doesn't Work That Well
#47I prefer "weak opinions, strongly held", as in, "I don't know. And I am pretty sure you don't either." Won't sell me any books, but it's been my experience.
This might give you language around the value of the position you're staking (esp "high-confident grays"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrRRvqgYgT0
Tools that cultivate more position-taking of this sort, that's what I firmly believe is part of healing the world we've thoughtlessly created through digital mediation of everything.
Re: ‘Strong Opinions, Weakly Held’ Doesn't Work That Well
#48I prefer "weak opinions, strongly held", as in, "I don't know. And I am pretty sure you don't either." Won't sell me any books, but it's been my experience.
On the other hand, when faced with a fork in the road, it's important to choose. Often it doesn't matter which - but if you vacillate, and especially if you are leading - then you can fail by not choosing. So, strong opinions: decisively go down one road; weakly held: turn around if information suggests it looks like the wrong road. You can only update your opinions if you engage with reality, which demands a certain…
Being decisive has nothing to do with a strong opinion.
It does bring up one of my issues with these pop philosophies. So many people interpret them differently while claiming to have the exact same interpretation.
Re: ‘Strong Opinions, Weakly Held’ Doesn't Work That Well
#49Strong Opinions, Weakly Held" - I missed this being a thing. Seems like terrible wording for something that already had english words.
Science. Devils Advocate.(although this is not obviously a better phrase...)
Re: ‘Strong Opinions, Weakly Held’ Doesn't Work That Well
#50I prefer "weak opinions, strongly held", as in, "I don't know. And I am pretty sure you don't either." Won't sell me any books, but it's been my experience.
AKA Militant Agnosticism