Every action that people undertake has a positive intent. If you don’t consider the action to be positive, you’re not considering that they view the issue from a different perspective.

They’re likely acting upon what they think is the best available information. What we tend to assume is that it is our job to pump them with more information until they change their decision.

What we should do is understand what their version of positive might be. Only by knowing that can we frame our interaction in a way that is a success for us both.

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