Let’s say you have a non-trivial proposal and you go to another person with it. The meaning of the answer “yes” and “no” can only be understood if you know this person well. For example, bureaucrats and entrepreneurs have fundamentally different ideas about “yes” and “no”.
The bureaucrat’s default answer is “no”. This “no” means “maybe, but you are not very persuasive, and I have no time to figure this out. You can try another time.” “Yes” (for a bureaucrat) means “okay, I’m signing up for this.”
For an entrepreneur, the default answer is “yes.” This “yes” means “maybe, but think through the details yourself, I don’t have time to figure it out. You’ll be responsible for the result.” “No” (for an entrepreneur) means “no way.”
Some people are inclined to bureaucracy, some to entrepreneurship. It’s hard to combine these inclinations because they are largely conflicting points of view. There are other inclinations, and they have other interpretations of such simple and understandable words as “yes” and “no,” not particularly similar to those voiced above.
