Do people trust you and your team?

Do you work for an organization where saying “No” is work?

Do you have armies of people saying stuff like: “You can’t just say ‘no’ to this! You gotta give me a reason! Where’s the data?” Are folks demanding all sorts of justifications that take longer than doing the actual work every time you say “No”?

If you work at such a place, you are likely working for an organization where saying “no” is work.

I’m not suggesting you should run (cough cough), but here is a little mental experiment to tickle your 🧠

If saying “No” is work, eventually we will stop saying “No”. Nobody wants to do extra work. As Tyler Cowen teaches us, Incentives matter.

If we stop saying no, we or our team will be working on many different things at the same time.

Working on many things at the same time = no focus.

No focus = no results.

No results = no $$$.

No $$$ = no paycheck, business goes bust, etc.

But Ale, you say, then people can just say “No” to everything, sit on the roof all day, collect their paycheck, nothing gets done, and we are all f*cked!

Correct. They can. But this is where trust comes into play.

If a person or team says no, it is perfectly reasonable to ask why, of course. In my experience, people volunteer such information promptly. But insistence on justifications, data, etc. reveals a lack of trust.

Which brings us to the following conclusion.

Trust me, you don’t want to work in such a place.

-Ale

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