An interesting concept from Jeff Norris: “assum-a-side” — death by assumptions. Assuming we know what’s going on rather than asking leads to a slow death (or sometimes instant martyrdom). Sometimes we think we know what people are thinking, what their concerns are, what’s going on in their worlds. But if we don’t ask, few will volunteer the information. The antidote to assum-a-side is asking good, curious questions.
The principle is that we need to check our assumptions before jumping to conclusions and taking action. If we do that, we can avoid a lot of pain… as well as not looking like an idiot. 🙂