Verify before you push back

Disagreement is cheap. Anyone can say “I don’t think that’s right.” What’s expensive — and what actually earns the disagreement — is checking your own math first, before you challenge someone else’s.

I’ve noticed this splits people into two groups in a room: the ones who push back because something feels off, and the ones who push back because they went and checked. The first group is right often enough to sound confident. The second group is right often enough to be trusted.

There’s a related habit worth naming too: a question isn’t always a request for an answer. Sometimes it’s a test of how well you think, not a gap in someone’s knowledge. The right response to that is a real, considered position — not a reflexive one, and not a rehearsed one either.