I was raised to avoid this part of leadership. Now I love it.

I love disagreements.

But I didn’t always love them! As a woman of Asian descent, I’m culturally inclined to smooth over differences and conflicts. But since immersing myself in disruptive leadership, I’ve realized that disagreements deliver three powerful gifts:

1) Disagreements lead to better outcomes. With opposing viewpoints coming in you discover not only new ideas, you’re also better able to identify and mitigate risks.

2) Disagreeing is a terrific way to improve relationships. One of the hallmarks of good disagreements is understanding the other person’s point of view. When you listen to understand, it makes the other person feel heard and more open to your point of view. This opens communication, deepens trust, and makes it 100% more likely you can find an agreement.

3) Disagreements are critical to fostering diversity and inclusion. I have definitely experienced this as a woman of color: sometimes I feel like I have to act a certain way or hide my opinions to avoid rocking the boat. But when it’s safe to have different points of view, then you welcome diverse thinking from everybody, regardless of their backgrounds.

Do you embrace disagreements or avoid them like Covid19? Hit reply and let me know — I love hearing from you!

My Latest:

• We had a fabulous conversation Tuesday on one of my favorite topics: the dichotomy of order and change. We often think these two live in conflict, but they’re actually different sides of the exact same coin! If you want to foster disruptive change in your organization, you NEED order. Find out why by watching the replay.

• You need to be open, authentic and transparent to be an effective (not to mention disruptive!) leader. But why? And importantly, how open do you need to be as a leader? In Leading Disruption, I reveal how to be open with structure, so your openness doesn’t turn into oversharing. Read more and join the conversation on LinkedIn.

Good Things:

• Good Reads: Have you read David Duncan’s The Secret Lives of Customers? This is so fun: it’s written as a mystery! This is not your typical business book. I just read the book and talked with David about it, and it’s fabulous because it makes customer obsession.

• Referrals: I love Charles Day’s podcast, Fearless, Creative Leadership. It’s super helpful to understand the different ways leaders disrupt their thinking and their organizations to create incredible change. Plus, I love that Charles creates a “snackable” 15-minute version of each episode. You can find Fearless, Creative Leadership on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player.

• Resource: I love Otter.ai! My team and I use it almost daily to transcribe livestreams, videos, interviews and more. I especially like using it to record and transcribe voice memos on the go. It’s fast, easy to use, and convenient. And there’s Zoom integration which automatically transcribes your Zoom recordings. If you’re in the market for a transcription software, I highly recommend it.