{"id":4158,"date":"2023-10-15T21:40:35","date_gmt":"2023-10-16T03:40:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:10043\/?p=4158"},"modified":"2025-03-07T07:15:51","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T13:15:51","slug":"in-business-figuring-out-good-opinions-from-bad-opinions-takes-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.atiba.com\/in-business-figuring-out-good-opinions-from-bad-opinions-takes-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"In business, figuring out good opinions from bad opinions takes practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared in\u00a0The Tennessean<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Everyone\u2019s entitled to their own opinion.<\/p>\n

In a world with the constant chatter of social media, blogging, and 24-hour news, entitlement to an opinion is ironically the one thing that most people can agree on.<\/p>\n

And by and large, this is good. Whether it\u2019s politics, sports, books, food, or you-name-it, opinions are what make the world go round.\u00a0 We each can form our own judgments whether we share them or not.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always been one to seek out other perspectives, especially when it comes to making big decisions.\u00a0 Because every person\u2019s point of view is subjective, I feel that checking myself against the input of others is almost always a good idea.<\/p>\n

But recently, I\u2019ve been experiencing a severe case of what I\u2019ve self-diagnosed as \u201copinion-overload.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between reading business books, listening to business podcasts, posing questions to ChatGPT, reading blogs and vetting ideas with peers, I have exposed myself to so many opinions that it\u2019s become hard to keep track of them.<\/p>\n

But the sheer volume isn\u2019t the only challenge.<\/p>\n

I have learned over the years that when it comes to opinions, some are more valuable than others.\u00a0 And sometimes it\u2019s hard to separate the good from the bad.<\/p>\n

I guess you could say that I\u2019ve come to the opinion that not all opinions are valid.<\/p>\n

This may seem obvious to some.\u00a0 But at work, where opinions are often presented as facts, filtering valid input from biased and even ignorant viewpoints isn\u2019t so easy.<\/p>\n

But over the years I\u2019ve found it\u2019s critical, especially for those in leadership positions, to be good at both seeking opinions and sifting through them to figure out which ones are worth listening to.\u00a0 The business landscape is littered with failed companies whose management<\/a> listened to the wrong advice.<\/p>\n

So, how can you tell a valid opinion from one that is misguided?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s taken me a few years (decades really) to figure out, but I\u2019ve found a few tips and tricks that have helped:<\/p>\n