This Is the One Question I Ask My Team Every Week That Transformed Our Performance I learned to ask my team the one question I was taught never to ask myself as a kid. Asking this question improved our decision-making ability, which in turn, dramatically improved our performance.

I was raised to be a perfectionist. My mother was a math teacher and taught both algebra and geometry, subjects where there's only one correct answer. I was taught to view most things in life this way. Admitting you didn't know something, hadn't formed an opinion yet or changed your mind was viewed as a sign of weakness or unintelligence. Reversing or updating a former opinion wasn't an option because it meant that our past selves had erred. And since we didn't like mistakes, we couldn't have that.

This approach limited me for years. Not only in leadership, but in life. Feeling that my first answer or opinion had to be right and that I couldn't renege on it limited my academic research and exploration and negatively affected my romantic relationships and friendships.

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