Strong Opinions Loosely Held
Committing to a viewpoint while remaining open to changing it when presented with new evidence.
Also known as: Strong opinions weakly held, Intellectual humility
Category: Principles
Tags: thinking, decision-making, mindsets, principles
Explanation
Strong Opinions Loosely Held is a mindset framework that encourages taking decisive positions while remaining intellectually flexible. The idea is to form strong opinions based on available evidence (enabling decisive action), but hold them loosely enough to change when new evidence emerges. This avoids both analysis paralysis (from having no opinions) and dogmatism (from holding opinions too rigidly). It's valuable in creative work, decision-making, and knowledge management where you need to act on incomplete information while staying open to learning.
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