Sincerity sells. People know when someone else really believes a thing. Confidence is contagious.
But most of us are very sincere in beliefs that are not true.
A business owner and friend of mine was certain a part of his business was working well. He was very certain and sincere. A month later he said he was eliminating that part of his product offering because it wasn’t working – he was very sincere then too.
It’s hard to argue with a person who is sincere. They are selling you on their idea and you don’t want to argue – you are sold. But a fool can be quite certain, until they are proven wrong. Sometimes we are the fool.
As leaders we need to be quite careful of the ideas we commit our resources to. Be alert. There is a difference between being sincere and being right. Even with ourselves.
Totally! I remember telling a friend/colleague “I know you’re sincere. It looks like you are sincerely wrong here though.”