Be easy to disagree with

I think there are some traits that are universally¹ good things to aim for.

One of them is trying to be someone that is easy to disagree with. By that I mean, when someone has reasonable cause to think you are wrong about something, they don’t have to do any internal calculus of working out whether it’s worth the effort of having that conversation with you. Note that this is almost entirely unrelated to how easy or hard it is for that person to change your mind. Only that they are able to freely raise their observations or concerns with you.

Those kinds of people are who I most like working with or generally spending time with.

You can never truly know whether you are that person because by definition it is about how someone else feels when they deal with you. You can probably get a sense for it though; ask yourself (honestly):

1. when someone questions or disagrees with something, do you get defensive and shut it down, or do you engage with the substance of what’s being said?
2. how often do you find people talking to you about things you might be wrong about?
3. do you deliberately try to improve (or disprove!) your own ideas and theories?
4. are you aware of your blind- and weak-spots? Do you try to do anything about them?