>But everybody has good intentions. God forbid I forget that On one hand I get the idea of trying to assume positive intent because wrongly assuming negative i

>But everybody has good intentions. God forbid I forget that On one hand I get the idea of trying to assume positive intent because wrongly assuming negative intent can make a situation much worse, but I still hate the idea. First, it gives negative intent the ability to hide and pretend to be positive intent. Not many people will do this, but the ones who do can use it to great effect and cause significant damage they won't be held accountable for. Second, it contradicts our standard actions elsewhere. If a stranger asks a kid if they need a ride, do we tell the kid to assume positive intent? No, we inform them to assume negative intent. We measure the situation of either option on a case by case basis and only then determine what is safe to assume (and in the example I give, it is more prudent to assume negative intent). Third, it has an implicit idea that positive intent is good enough. That isn't always the case. Sometimes it is, but especially when it comes to leaders in an organization, specifically those with power and compensation to match being a leader, the demand is higher than just trying to be positive. We need people who have the knowledge and experience to do more than just having positive intent. When you higher a security expert, do you hire someone who will try to achieve security and count that as good enough, or is the demand for their to be realized results and failing to achieve those results lead to negative consequences unless there is adequate explanation. When someone is parenting a child, is trying good be a good parent enough, or do we demand a certain level of competence in parenting and remove children from those who fail to reach a certain level? Fourth, there is a double standard in application. Every time someone tells me to assume positive intent, they were assuming I didn't already have the positive intent in doing so. And dare you point it out, you will be seen as assuming negative intent about their assuming negative intent. This alone isn't really a major issue, but it generally represents a larger double standard on application of such rules.