Wise business leaders value their skeptics.
This is not to say that they must necessarily buy everything a skeptic says. It means they listen and weigh before acting.
Do not confuse a skeptic with a naysayer. A naysayer (or cynic) disagrees for the sake of disagreeing. A skeptic looks at the evidence and where it leads, like it or not.
The antithesis of the skeptic is the dogmatist, who decides in advance upon a desired conclusion, and then twists or ignores the evidence in order to cling to it.
Too many business leaders are corporate dogmatists, but they call it “positive thinking.” That way, they can dismiss the skeptics as being negative and visionless, and even scold them for it.
—Steve Cuno