Don't Turn Your Answer Into a Lecture
- JD Solomon
- Aug 1
- 2 min read
Technical professionals are trained to teach. That habit is valuable in a classroom or a technical review, but it works against your role as a trusted advisor to the board. They did not convene to be taught. They convened to decide, and every extra minute of explanation spends down the trust that role depends on.
The Lecture Signals You Misjudged the Room
When a simple question triggers a full explanation of first principles, the board hears something other than expertise. They hear someone who cannot judge what they already know or what they actually need from you right now.
Depth Belongs to the Board, Not to You
Answer the question. Then stop. If the board wants the underlying method, it will ask for it. Let the board pull the depth it needs instead of having it pushed on them, whether they want it or not.
The Tip: Say Less Than You Know
You know more than you should say in any single meeting, and that is fine. Lecturing is not generosity. It works against the board's process and against your standing as its trusted advisor. Answer the question, stop talking, and let the next question tell you what the board actually wants to hear.
The first E in FINESSE stands for empathy. Empathy means answering the board's question, not delivering your lecture.
The second S in FINESSE stands for synergy. A lecture turns a working relationship with the board into a one-way performance, and that costs you the trusted-advisor role synergy depends on.
Is your answer serving the board, or your own need to explain?
JD Solomon is the founder of JD Solomon, Inc., the creator of the FINESSE Fishbone Diagram®, and the co-creator of the SOAP criticality method©.
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