A few years ago I shared this post in Spanish and I think it is still relevant today. That is why I want to share it again in its English version.

Since we were children we have been taught that arguing is not good and that it is better to get along. There is a saying that goes «a bad agreement is better than a long fight» and that is what we strive for when we argue with other people.

But it is something that is not right. Some time ago I wrote about the positive of having different opinions in a work team and generating debate around the strategies you want to develop. Teams that allow disagreement and discussion from the original or official idea are more likely to succeed than teams that simply follow a single-minded leader.

I have applied this point of view, I believe, since I was a child. I still remember one of my first jobs, when in a meeting with the top management of the company, the CFO stopped the meeting and said to me «Jaime, tell me what you are thinking because you won’t stop sit still and you are making me nervous». You can imagine that I almost had a heart attack. Suddenly the whole room turned to me wondering who this brat attending the meeting. There was a set of coincidences that led me to participate to provide support on a very specific topic that was to be discussed during the meeting, but my role was basically to stay quiet the whole time. So, all of a sudden, I became the center of attention of the entire board of directors and the top management of the company, who were looking at me anxiously to find out what was so important to stop the meeting.

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