Hello DCS Engineering and welcome to our weekly reminder where I do my best to remind us of the purpose in the work we do together. This week, I’m thinking about our value of being easy to work with. When we say easy to work with we mean we are helpful and low hassle. It doesn't mean we don’t speak up, ask good questions, and think critically about our work. In other words, being easy to work with doesn't mean being a wallflower and just going along to get along. It does mean that we strive to be helpful and we trust intent. In my experience, often times when situations derail and people become entrenched and not easy to work with, we perceive the person, their idea or their position to be totally crazy. Instinctively, we want to write them off and judge their character (this is called fundamental attribution bias). If someone pulls out in front of me I think they’re a bad driver. If I pull out in front of someone else I’m in a hurry or just didn’t see them. But I’m a good driver. One idea that I’ve found helpful from the book Crucial Conversations. The authors talk about the opportunity to suspend judgement and instead ask ourselves, why would a reasonable, rational, decent person do this? This humanizes the person and allows me to see the situation in a more empathetic and understanding light. And we can then get back to being problem solvers who are easy to work with. Thanks for who you are and all you do. Have a great rest of the week!