Strong Opinions, Revisited

A better way of sharing and collaborating on new ideas

When I launched my first blog over a decade ago, I was struggling for a name. I was in the midst of winding down my failed tech startup, and I had experiences and ideas I wanted to share so that other would be entrepreneurs did not make the same mistakes.

I thought to call it “Failed Startup” or something in the vein of failure. I liked the brutal honesty of the word but did not like the negativity. It was then that I read a blog post by Bob Sutton called “Strong Opinions, Weakly Held”.

What does that mean? Bob Sutton was referencing an idea first conceived by Paul Saffo back in the 80’s. Paul said that it was better to state a hypothesis that you believe to be correct, but to be flexible enough to change your hypothesis when data and evidence runs counter to your opinion. Approaching decision making in this way helps avoid the analysis paralysis that can stymie progress towards a viable solution.

I liked the idea so much, I called my blog Strong Opinions. It conformed to my belief that people tended to either hold their opinions to themselves or had no philosophical core that guided their thinking. Decisions were more often made as concessions to appease instant gratification rather than based on long term goals and firm values.

Ten years later however, I think maybe it’s time to retire this idea.

You may have heard the saying about how opinions are like a$$holes. Everyone has one. In this era of unfettered opinions and numerous channels by which to spout one’s…