A trust-reducing maneuver of people who are uncomfortable being wrong: they struggle to lead with an opinionated headline. They’ll dive straight into descriptive facts instead: “This candidate spent 10 minutes on the first problem and needed multiple hints…” “We had 5% week on week growth…” “We explored 7 design variations of this problem…” No no no! What the other person ACTUALLY wants is for you to earn their trust and respect their time. ”I’m a solid no hire.” “We had okay but unspectacular growth last week.” “I have a design solution I’m happy with.” THEN, follow-up with your evidence / context / facts. Sure, you may be wrong. The other person might hear your evidence and say “I actually think we had a spectacular week” or “I don’t think this proposal cuts it” but actually having these conflicts to calibrate mental models is PRECISELY what builds trust over time. If you’re uncertain, you can contextualize your opinion (”I’m still new to recruiting but I’m a solid no hire on this candidate…” or “I might not be calibrated yet but I have a design solution I’m happy with…”). But please do not just state the facts. That’s your insecurity talking. Make like a journalist and lead with the headline.