"Argue like you're right. Listen like you're wrong" – Pat Wadors, CPO of UKG

I've heard you use a phrase, and I really like it. I think you can apply to this around feedback and learning. And you've advocated for arguing like you're right but listening like you're wrong. Talk to me about that.

So I was at ServiceNow with John Donahoe, and we're building a new leadership team. And what we attempted to do is to create a social contract, how we want to operate together. And we had some leaders there that had been there for years, and some were new and mix in between and new roles. And they were all, we were all, including myself, trying to prove our capability, subject matter, expertise, how do we fit in this dynamic to do our best work? And what I realized, because we all bring some incredible talent to the table, our listening skills weren't as optimal as we should have been. And so we agreed. And so we looked at the tenants of this team and said, what do we want to be? You know, how do we want to show up for and hold each other accountable? Not having my boss tell me, but hold each other accountable. And this is one of the tenants that came up. I'm like, we've got to listen like we're wrong. We got to assume we've missed something. And it evolved to that statement, argue like you're right. Get your act together, get your data right, do your research, don't get lazy. Listen and try to understand the stakeholders. And then once you make your case, be quiet. Your best, you know, tool in your arsenal at that point is a question. Seek to understand, listen like you're wrong, and then reflect echo back. So it became one of our strongest tenets.