The best captains aren’t the ones with all the answers. They’re the ones who ask “what are we missing?”

Certainty is comfortable to follow and dangerous to depend on, since no one person sees the whole situation. Asking what has been overlooked pulls in information that was already in the room and would otherwise stay there, and it signals that uncertainty is allowed, which is when people begin telling you useful things. Your authority is not reduced by the question.

Ask it before the decision rather than after the problem, out loud, with time to answer. Wait through the first silence, where the real answer usually hides. Act on one thing you hear, so the question is not decorative.