I don’t know much

We had this mathematics professor at the University. During a discussion about some topic or another, he would often emphasize that he was not very knowledgable in that area.

Of course, in reality that meant he knew more about that subject than anyone else in the room and probably more than most people outside the room.

It was still the truth because when he said that, it meant that he was actually not as knowledgeable as he was about his specialty. In that sense, he was being honest.

In fact, he wouldn’t even have considered to comment on a subject he knew “not much” about.

When you chime in into a discussion, how knowledgable are you in that area? When you form an opinion, how profound is your background? Would you back out of a discussion when you feel you can’t contribute in a meaningful way?

Communicating risk in a project pitch

It’s the least liked part of any project pitch: the risks of the project. What if these risks will lead the decision makers to shy away from approving the project?

What’s easily overlooked is that the problem is not that there is a risk. The problem is when there’s no appropriate plan to deal with the risk.

Any decent decision maker understands that business decisions come with a risk. We make decisions not because there is no risk but because we are confident to be able to deal with the risk.

Show me that you understand the risk, be transparent about what can happen at worst and make me see that you know how to deal with it.

That’s a much more convincing pitch than trying to hide the risk and hoping that nobody will recognize it.

When done right, the risk part is actually the best part where you can prove that you know what you’re doing.

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Picture of Dr. Michael Gerharz

Dr. Michael Gerharz