01.13.09
IYA 2009 – When great minds do not think alike
When strong minds disagree it can lead to pretty intense discussions. My take is that as long as the discourse stay respectful, I am in!
This morning I had a meeting with one of my teammates. He is an engineer, I am an astronomer, naturally we do not interpret things the same way. And that’s good! That is why the team is such a mix of engineers and scientists. In any case, this morning we did not agree at all, complete and profound disagreement regarding a pretty important part of the report we are preparing for a big review coming up in February.
We have been working together for five and half years and that argument we had this morning might have been the biggest shouting match of all. Yes, voices were raised, not recommended, but there it happened. But it remained about the content of the document.
Amazingly enough, after an hour, we had found common ground and parted smiling and joking. We were both really glad we had that argument, and more importantly, that we pull through without scars and with a solution.
It is unfortunate that too often people will run away from a fight. Nothing gets solved that way. In my business, there are a lot of smart people, all with different ideas and opinions, it is normal to have strong disagreements from time to time. But those need to be confronted if they have any chances of being resolved.
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Please note that I will be travelling tomorrow and unable to post to the blog. I will write the entry tomorrow, promised, but I will have to post it on Thursday, at the earliest.