I had COVID-19 over the holidays. I’m double vaccinated, which is a topic that’s heavily debated right now. Some people are very pro vaccines, and others are very against them. This disagreement has caused a lot of fighting and even broken relationships, which got me thinking about disagreeing.
I listened to a great podcast today by Scott Galloway; I highly recommend it. He had Political Analyst Ian Bremmer on the episode. I’m a huge fan of him because he calls everything as he sees it rather than picking sides. As they talked about things during their interview, Ian stopped and asked Scott what he disagreed with. That struck me. I love that question! He’s not only okay with disagreements, he looks for them, mines for them and asks the interviewer about them. Rather than being defensive, he wants to know more and hear the other person’s point of view. If only we all could do better at that!
How can we mine for disagreements at work? We should look for disagreements and celebrate them instead of making them personal and getting in a fight. Listen, this isn’t an area that I’ve always been great at, I’m working hard at it. I’ve tended to be disagreeable and intense in the past, and when I’d come on too strong, it’d turn the other party off. This is an area I’m trying to work on, so I wanted to lean into how to disagree without being disagreeable. Instead of getting defensive or trying to correct the person you disagree with, try to understand their point of view and see if any of it resonates with you.
I have friends that I disagree with, but I still love them, and I am still friends with them. We can have disagreements without it ending our friendships. I want to do more of that in 2022, in both my personal life and at work. I think there’s gold in disagreement. There’s gold in trying to see things from somebody else’s perspective and understanding that you might not see eye to eye. I’d love to hear your comments and where you disagree with me on this. I want to see us all get better at disagreeing. Lean into disagreements, mine for them, and see what value they bring to you. Look to disagree!
