Why would you expose your opinions to challenge if you know they are right?
Also why would you need to take any risks if you think you know everything already?
I don't think you know many arrogant people, I deal with people at my company that are both stubborn and usually wrong, which is a lethal combo. You have to workaround these people or else the project won't get done.
Sure, but all of those "virtues" have good and bad manifestations. I agree that arrogance can be terrible.
> Why would you expose your opinions to challenge if you know they are right?
You expose them to challenge because you know they're right; you don't act to protect them by keeping them hidden and not testing them. You "put them under load." This is basically mental and rhetorical dogfooding.
edit: I think the difference is between "I think I'm right" and "I want to believe I'm right." If you want to protect your sense that you're right, you'll be both hesitant to test your beliefs and vicious in their defense. Conversely, if you're attached to the actual state of being right, you'll trial your beliefs and abandon them if they fail you. Arrogance, or at least a moderate degree of it, can help you act like the latter by making ideas seem more reliable than they deserve, creating natural trials.
edit: I guess the common thread is that arrogance promotes exploration by suppressing fear of loss.
The way I read the parent comment is "arrogant people expose their opinions" (which unavoidably exposes them to challenge) and "arrogant people have full confidence they know exactly what to do" (but are actually unaware of the risk involved due to them being wrong).
Also why would you need to take any risks if you think you know everything already?
I don't think you know many arrogant people, I deal with people at my company that are both stubborn and usually wrong, which is a lethal combo. You have to workaround these people or else the project won't get done.