The deadliest habit: always being right

De Bono identifies a surprising villain — the need to be correct. Society, and especially education, rewards the right answer above all. But the person who only ever says correct, safe, expected things is, by definition, boring. There is no surprise, no movement, nothing to spark a listener's mind.

He distinguishes between being right and being interesting. A right statement closes a conversation ('yes, that's true'). An interesting statement opens one — it offers a new angle, a provocation, a fresh possibility. The interesting person is willing to be provisionally wrong, to float ideas that may not survive scrutiny but that get thinking moving.

The cure is to loosen your grip on certainty. Instead of asking 'Is this correct?', ask 'Is this worth saying? Does it open something up?' Interest lives in the space beyond the merely accurate.