Conversations
Accuracy Is Not the Same as Needing to Be Right
Being right is not inherently a problem. Measurements should be right. Facts matter. Safety can depend on accuracy.
The difficulty begins when accuracy becomes entangled with identity.
Now the conversation is not only about what is true. It is also about who gets to occupy the position of being right. That second activity changes listening. Contradictory information becomes threatening. Correction becomes humiliation. Agreement becomes proof of status.
A useful question is therefore not 'Would you rather be right or happy?' as if accuracy and happiness were mutually exclusive. It is: what am I protecting here?
The truth of the matter? Or my need to be the person who was right?
Accuracy deserves rigor. Identity does not need to hide inside it.