Why Leaders Cannot Be Indifferent to the Truth: Part 1—You are NOT Entitled to Your Opinion

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Feb. 6, 2017 - PRLog -- Remember that CEO I wrote about last month whose brilliant new project was derailed because she did not provide context? There was one more interaction from her launch party that bothered me. When she was defending the company changes via her charts, graphs and other quantifiable measures, an employee responded with a dismissive, "Well, I'm entitled to my opinion." Is this a valid response or are we enabling ignorance? <spoiler alert: the answer is #2>

Let's begin with the understanding that "I'm entitled to my opinion" is a logical fallacy. An opinion is a judgment that inherently involves a degree of uncertainty; therefore, using it as a defense only works in select situations. For instance, you can be entitled to your opinion if we're discussing the latest Star Wars movie. Sure, critics, friends, and sheer sensibility will tell you it's a fantastic flick, but there is no "right" answer about such a subjective thought.

   You cannot, however, harbor a valid opinion when there is a provable, objective, verifiable fact contradicting your inaccurate thoughts. Going back to our Star Wars example...

Read more at: www.leadersayswhat.com/2017/02/entitled-to-your-opinion