If you always need to be right, you’ll usually be the first one in the room to stop learning.

Needing to be right turns every conversation into something to win, and winning means your current opinion survives intact. That is the opposite of learning, which requires the opinion to change shape. People who hold their views loosely keep collecting information long after the rest of the room has settled. The cost is not looking stubborn, it is that you stop moving.

In the next discussion where you feel your grip tighten, ask one real question before you make your next point. Let the answer land. Being the person who says that is a fair point is not a loss, and it keeps the door open.