"What's the right answer?"

"What's the right answer?" This is something we are taught to ask from a very young age. In order to be successful at school, understanding what the teacher wants it’s critically important. But where do we teach people the most of our professional decisions have no right answer. For that matter, they also have no wrong answer. As professionals, we are constantly asked to make decisions based on the information at hand, and often there are huge gaps in the data. Just last week, I watched as more than a dozen college sophomores struggled to unlearn the educational construct of right and wrong. As I handed out my first college grades, I was struck by the number of students who were dissatisfied with an A. I remember, as an undergrad being excited when I got an A on a major assignment from a professor, but if I’m being really honest, I would’ve done like many of my students did and wanted to know why it wasn’t a perfect score. It took me quite a bit of time in my career to learn that there is always more you can do, something else you can learned, a better way you can present the information, and a new piece of data that you were unaware of. I hope the time they spent with me during my office hours talking about the class, the assignment, and the grade didn’t simply frustrate them, but instead helps them get up that learning curve faster than I did. They are all doing such amazing work and are such impressive students!