[hderms]

Well, engineers are kind of the archetypal model of the "but ackshually..." guy, so I'd venture to say you're right. I used to be more bold in my pronouncements when I was younger, now I think I like to repeat stuff I've heard like "interesting, I had heard that X was a factor with this, do you know if that's true or not?" In these situations. Having some intellectual humility and actively seeking opinions of people who might be more informed goes a long way.

[veb]

This also works in _so many different work environments too_! I like how you term it "intellectual humility" but I wonder if "professional intellectual humility" is more suited.

[hderms]

Yeah it's considerably more harmful in professional environments, imo. I forgot to mention in my initial comment that I feel like people underestimate how effective it is to drop the pretense that you already know enough about what's being discussed to learn more, and how 'disarming' it is to people to be asked instead of told.

Disarming in a sense that they will usually be inclined to react in a magnanimous way, instead of possibly adopting some other frictional communication pattern. It really just makes everything easier if you actively try to leave your ego at the door.

[dpio]

Well, actually you forgot the “not really” guys too!

[hderms]

yes, there are so many frustrating communication archetypes I feel like there should be a compendium/dictionary of them. Unfortunately, most of them seem ego-driven, so it takes a lot typically for people to grow out of them.