A Matter of Opinions

This past June, I had a great opportunity come up at work. I was asked to travel to London to speak at an internal conference we have every few years as the representative for our business unit. My audience would be all senior management and the executives of my roughly 20,000 employee company. I shocked myself when my mouth instantly said, "Sign me up!" despite the tightening knot in my stomach.

It was a sweet deal. I got to see London for free, and I had a chance to meet many of my UK colleagues whom I work with regularly. But I was nervous about that presentation. It was looming over my trip. At Westminster Abbey I was reviewing my slides in my head. I passed Big Ben thinking about timing on each topic I wanted to hit. By the time I walked the length of Hyde Park I had perfected the seemingly "off the cuff" joke I had planned to give the impression of being relaxed (hint: this rarely works).

The big night came, and I did the task at hand. My presentation went decently well despite my nerves. I got to everything I wanted to say, and I didn't hear crickets as I left the stage. Always a good sign. Mission accomplished. Now I could relax for the fancy sit-down dinner following the conference.

I was seated next to a member of our Board of Executives. Feeling halfway intimidated and halfway like a hotshot, I struck up conversation. If you think back on the timeframe of this trip, you'll realize that the BP oil spill was still fresh on the world's minds. After a 5-Star meal and a glass of wine, the Board member turned to me, suddenly very serious. He asked, "Ben, what do you think will be the outcome of the incident in the Gulf?"

I stammered for a minute, trying to think politically. Why would he ask me? I'm just out of college! What does he expect me to say? What's the right answer? I simply shrugged and replied, "I don't know what will happen. There are so many ways it could turn out."

What he said next had a real impact on me. He said, "Ben, I know you dont know what will happen. No one knows. I asked what your opinion was on the matter."

Having an opinion is a simple way to show you have thought about an issue, weighed it against what you know and believe to be true, and come to some conclusion regarding its outcome, value, or effect. You don't have to present it as truth. You don't have to be right. I often learn something and let my thought process end at "Oh, interesting," but I'm trying more and more to know how I think and feel about what goes on in my life and the world around me. It sounds weird to have to consciously form an opinion, but that's where I had somehow wound up.

All of this has been a long-winded story to make this point: people who play an active role in their own lives form opinions on things that matter, and this perspective was my London souveneir.

-BB

Have you ever felt like you don't have enough opinions? What helped you overcome this?