When I was 20, fresh out of university and in my first HR job, one of the senior leaders told me they liked coming to me for advice because I didn’t waffle. I gave a clear, decisive response.

The room was packed with officials and workplace delegates from the Building and Engineering Unions. There were rank-and-file and leaders, shoulder to shoulder. The all-male negotiating team who’d been in place before me, told me it had been tense, loud, and aggressive.

Doing so, soothes the discomfort of not knowing, but it creates a false sense of certainty that does not last.

The leader leaned back in their chair, clearly frustrated.