Conflict Avoidance is Dishonesty

considered a problem. Everyone else had already concluded that the aggressive style each of them showed was the reason the company couldn’t make any decisions. “I don’t think either of them is really sick,” the CEO confided in me. “I think they just don’t want to deal with all the touchy-feely stuff you make people talk about.” I nodded and joked a

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Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. Most of us are familiar with situations where people are unwilling or afraid to present unpleasant truths. In many cases, who can blame them? The unspoken rule in all too many companies is: We don’t want to see anything negative, even if it is true; we like our rose-colored glasses. Ignoring facts, e

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When an executive decides not to confront a peer about a potential disagreement, he or she is dooming employees to waste time, money, and emotional energy dealing with unresolvable issues. This causes the best employees to start looking for jobs in less dysfunctional organizations, and it creates an environment of disillusionment, distrust, and exh... See more

Every day I stayed silent, the situation got worse. The market was wrong. The mission was wrong. We were wrong for each other.

After giving contextual advice to thousands of founders, here is the one thing I wish everyone understood:

The longer you avoid the truth, the worse the price gets.

It does not stay still. It compounds.

Waiting to say the hard ... See more

All too often, teams in business tend to spend their time fighting for turf, avoiding anything that will make them look bad personally, and pretending that everyone is behind the team’s collective strategy—maintaining the appearance of a cohesive team. To keep up the image, they seek to squelch disagreement; people with serious reservations avoid s

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