THINKDROP 10: Agree to Disagree

Why tension isn’t failure, it's a fuel for clarity !

Thinkdrop Issue 10: Agree to Disagree – Why Strategic Tension Builds Stronger Business Decisions

🎤 From Me to You

After nearly 20 years of building businesses across continents, I keep coming back to one truth: real clarity is forged in tension.

I’ve seen deals go sideways, roadmaps collapse, and trust fracture all because we chased a forced “yes.” Now I seek the courage to say a good “no.”

I believe: Customers aren’t always right. Markets speak in many voices. Data rarely tells the full story. And publicly changing your mind?

It’s not weakness—it’s growth.

That friction isn’t malfunction—it’s fuel. Let’s lean into it.

Pierre Stanghellini.

HARi.wtf founder.

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1. With Clients

Challenging briefs build trust.

Yes-men create fragile foundations. Respectful pushback protects your work and your relationship. The goal isn’t to please. It's to solve.

If you can’t question it, you can’t improve it.

Try This: Ask: “What decision have you regretted—and why?”

Further Reading:

• The Customer Is NOT Always Right – Medium

• Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers – HBR summary

• What to Do When You Disagree With a Client – Abask Marketing

  
  

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2. With the Market

Markets disagree. Your strategy should too.

Trends are hypotheses. Validate with data, then test your counter-case.

The signal isn’t a consensus. It’s a conflict.

Success often starts where the herd turns back.

Try This: Run a pilot on a trend, then execute a contrary one. Compare results.

Further Reading:

• Don't Chase Business Trends, Do This Instead.

• The Lost Art of Critical Thinking – CMSWire

• Why Letting Trends Pass You By – Forbes

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3. With Your Team

Conflict done right creates connection.

When everyone agrees too quickly, depth and trust are sacrificed. Structure meaningful dissent. Disagreement shows people care. You can’t innovate in an echo chamber.

Try This: Ask your team what disagreements they kept quiet, and why.

Further Reading:

• Benefits of Conflict in the Workplace – LinkedIn

• Preventing and Managing Team Conflict – Harvard DCE

• Artificial Harmony Kills Innovation – Forbes

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4. With Yourself

Inner doubt is your advisor, not your enemy.

Inner doubt is your advisor, not your enemy. Changing your mind is courageous. Belief evolution signals learning, not weakness. Growth means letting go of outdated truths.

Clarity arrives disguised as discomfort.

Try This: Do the exercise: list beliefs you’ve changed—and why.

Further Reading:

• Changing Your Mind Can Make You Happier – The Atlantic

• Confirmation Bias and Savage Data – Farnam Street

• Losing Yourself – Scott H. Young

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5. Follow Your Instinct

Your intuition is an early-warning system.

Smart decisions blend data and gut. Ignoring that inner tug wastes potential.Instinct is pattern recognition without explanation.Sometimes the wisest voice has no proof—yet.

Try This: Next big call, write down your instinctive hunches—then compare to data and final outcome.

Further Reading:

• Follow Your Instincts – Ziva Voices

• Why You Should Follow Your Instincts – Entrepreneur

• Trusting Your Gut in Business – Finance Digest

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✨ Extended Conclusion

Disagreement isn’t derailment—it’s direction.

When you question the client brief, you preserve vision.

When you test contradictory market hypotheses, you sharpen strategy.

When teams debate, you build trust.

When you change your mind, you model learning.

When you follow your instinct, you balance conviction with wisdom.

Every breakthrough begins with tension.

Every breakthrough escalates when someone says, What if…?

So lean into friction. Disagree with purpose.

Let clarity follow.

→ Let’s connect at www.hari.wtf or drop me a line directly at pierre@hari.wtf .

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About the Creator

Pierre Stanghellini is a creative strategist, systems thinker, and curator of mental rabbit holes. He created Thinkdrop Weekly to feed the brains that don’t want the same old Business advice. If you’re building something bold, beautiful, or strange—this is your corner of the internet.

Connect on LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/pierrestanghellini

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About HARi.wtf

HARi.wtf is a creative strategy studio for businesses that hate business-as-usual.

Born in Hong Kong in 2017, we work with restless founders, operators, and teams who’d rather break things thoughtfully than grow them blandly. We don’t do generic decks or bloated strategies—we build clarity, guts, and traction.

From street-level restaurants to global brands, from Asia to Europe, we help shape ideas that move fast when it matters, and slow when it counts.

→ Explore more at hari.wtf