My wife, Pam, has always colored inside the lines, both literally and figuratively.  She was probably the last child to turn in a coloring project in kindergarten due to carefully checking to make sure none of her red crayon marks touched a line.

I, on the other hand, liked to carefully color inside the lines, then take a different color crayon and color outside the lines.  Finishing that, I would take a third color and draw geometric designs around the border and sign my name backwards just to see if I could.  I probably drove my kindergarten teacher crazy, “. . . But, I did color red inside the lines.  You never said I couldn’t use a different color outside the lines. . . ?”

When Pam and I have a business discussion, one person is coloring inside all the lines (Pam) while I am trying to figure out how to use a different color outside the lines and get by with it.

When you and your management team make critical business decisions, do you listen to the team members who color differently than you do?