Good Ideas From People I Dislike
Why recognizing them is important both personally and culturally
It may make you want to wretch.
But acknowledging good ideas in politics, when they come from people you don’t like, is a sign of a strong intellect and maturity. Also, it’s needed more than ever in our fractious times.
Our political system isn’t short on ideas. Think tanks, academia, examples from other countries, interest groups, and many other sources, ensure that we are awash in policy ideas for our most pressing problems. Then why aren’t they getting solved?
We’re obsessed with who gets credit.
We tout our side’s accomplishments and condemn the other side’s failures. A phrase, attributed to various historical figures captures the potential our leaders consistently fail to realize,
“It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets credit.”
Founder of Farnum Street Media, Shane Parrish, explains that dismissing ideas simply because we dislike the source is like working with one hand behind your back.
“You would never choose to only use half your talent but that is effectively what you’re doing when you dismiss useful ideas from people you don’t like. You can…
