Don't Be Afraid to Be Captain Obvious

Learning to not be afraid to be 🧑‍✈️ captain obvious not only makes you smarter, it makes everyone around you smarter.

So many people seem to be hesitant to ask for clarification on what something means or what someone means in a conversation.

And so, the conversation moves on past really important details with people taking away a different or even completely misaligned understanding of what is being said.

Then, things go off the rails.

By being the person who asks the clarifying, "obvious" questions, you not only make sure you have a common understanding, but that others participating get more clarity too.

Then, maybe they feel better about asking the next clarifying question when someone as capable as you are is willing to ask what they feared might make them look silly if they asked it.

For one prominent "business fable" example of how this works, see Patrick Lencioni's unfortunately titled book "Getting Naked" and specifically the "ask dumb questions" section.