Business leaders should aggressively seek out second opinions from outside their organization. Here are ten reasons why.
You’re working with incomplete information. No matter how much you’ve researched the topic, you almost certainly missed something. A second opinion may reveal gaps in your knowledge or alternative sources of insight.
You’re surrounded by people who have an incentive to agree with you. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re “yes men” (although they could be). It might just mean that you’ve all been drinking from the same fountain. You need to get an opinion from outside, independent of your internal politics.
You’re too close to the subject / you’re emotionally invested in the decision / you’re unaware of your own biases. “Attentional blindness” is when you don’t see the gorilla because you’re too busy counting how many times the basketball gets passed. You need another perspective.
You might be missing unintended consequences and downstream effects of your decision. Someone with a broader perspective could point out.
You’re outside of your area of expertise. It’s not that you’re stupid, but someone who knows the landscape can keep you from making mistakes.
An outside opinion can provide insights into market trends, customer behaviors, or competitive threats you don’t know about.
Your pace is wrong – you’re going too fast or too slow. Your internal development clock might not be calibrated with the market.
An internal department or division might be driving a change that doesn’t take account of other points of view. An outside opinion can expose this kind of tunnel vision.
You need an advisor who gets no benefit or penalty no matter which course of action you take. People on the inside always have mixed motivations.
A second opinion costs less than the mistakes you might make without one.
