Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions than ruined by too confident a security.

— Edmund Burke

RESILIENCE

WHAT THIS MEANS

Being the person who worried too much carries a social cost and almost never a fatal one. Being the person who was relaxed about the wrong thing carries no social cost at all until the day it costs everything. The asymmetry matters because the pressure in the room runs the other way, since nobody enjoys the one raising concerns. Reputation and risk are not measuring the same thing.

If you are the only person uneasy about something, say it once, clearly, and let the record show it. Accept looking overcautious as the price of the occasional time you are right. Then let the decision go without resentment.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

What warning would you rather voice than be right about later?

MORE IN CHOICE & CONSEQUENCE

Free, with nothing to buy inside it.