Try to Be Less Wrong

In most workplace conversations — especially when dealing with adaptive challenges — clean answers rarely exist. These are the situations where there isn’t one obvious approach, no perfect data set, and often no clear view of who is right and who is wrong. You say something, the other side suggests something else, and suddenly it feels like everyone is wrestling for clarity in the fog.

Earlier in my career, I would step into these discussions trying to defend my point of view. It felt natural — after all, we prepare, we think things through, and we want our ideas to hold. But I gradually realized this mindset pushes conversations into a defensive posture. The moment you try to be right, you also start protecting your beliefs.

Over time, I adopted a simple heuristic — inspired by something Elon Musk often says about reasoning and decision-making:

Assume the other person is right, and assume you are wrong.

It sounds counterintuitive, but the moment I take that stance, something opens up. The conversation stops feeling like a debate and becomes a collaboration. Instead of pushing my idea, I start asking questions. Instead of defending, I start exploring. And almost always, we arrive at a shared understanding that neither of us could have reached alone.

Trying to be right narrows the mind.

Trying to be less wrong widens it.

“Being less wrong” doesn’t mean abandoning your judgment — it means approaching the conversation with intellectual humility. It means accepting that your first take might be incomplete, that someone else may see something you don’t, and that the real goal isn’t to win the argument but to uncover a better understanding together.

In complex, high-stakes, no-clear-answer environments, this mindset changes everything. It makes conversations lighter. It makes solutions stronger. And it turns disagreements into pathways for learning rather than friction.

So the next time you find yourself in the middle of one of those fuzzy, adaptive challenges, remember:

When no one clearly knows who is right or wrong, assume you’re wrong — and try to be less wrong.

You’ll be surprised by how much progress that simple shift unlocks.