Chapter 1

Our Hesitancy to Question

Why we always say later, “What I should have said …”

We tend not to question, because we are convinced the other party is an expert, or the questioning is impolite, or we’ll be seen as dolts. These various fears and myths disempower us from finding truth and acting on it.

Authority Figures and God: Yes, Doctor!

The historical, stereotypical fears include public speaking, flying, heights, and first dates. We’ve found that you can add to that the fear of questioning authority figures. We act as if our teacher were Aristotle, our guide Odysseus, our stock broker Warren Buffet, and our doctor Louis Pasteur.

We’ve observed underlings in executive meetings at Fortune 500 companies actually address the ...

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