Why do you think so?

There is a principle called the Burden of Proof Rule. It says the person making the claim is the one who has to support it. If you say it, you have to back it up.

I learned this the hard way during consulting case prep.

When I first started practicing cases, I was nervous. You get a prompt like, "Our client is in the Asian market and they are experiencing losses. How would you solve this?" And the clock is ticking. The interviewer is watching. You feel pressure to say something, anything, just to show you are thinking.

So I would jump in. "I think we should look at the market." It sounded reasonable in my head, broad enough to be safe and smart enough to not sound lost.

Then the interviewer asked four words that stopped me cold. "Why do you think so?"

And I had nothing.

I did not have a reason. I said it because it sounded like the right thing to say. I did not have a logical path behind it. I was making a claim I could not support. And the moment someone asked me to, I froze.

It got worse when we hit the math, the quantification section where you are working through the numbers to find something like profit or break even. I would ask, "Do we have information about sales?" And the interviewer would ask, "Why do you need that information?" And I would sit there thinking, that is a good question. Why do I need it? Most times I realized I did not even have a clear reason for asking.

That experience taught me something I now carry everywhere. Do not say things just to fill silence. If you are going to make a claim, know why. If you are going to ask for data, know what you will do with it. The burden is on you the moment you open your mouth.

It also changed how I listen to other people. When someone makes a bold statement now, I do not argue with it. I just ask, "Why do you think so?" You would be surprised how often the answer is silence. Most of them have never stopped to ask themselves that question before they said it out loud.

I still hear those four words every time I am about to say something I have not thought through.