Steel-Manning in Practice

When you build the strongest version of your opponent's argument, you often find their position has genuine merit you had missed. That does not weaken your case — it sharpens it.

A colleague wants to cut your project's funding. Instead of dismissing it, you say: "Your strongest point is that this money would save three jobs next quarter — that matters more than my timeline." Now your colleague feels understood, and you have already absorbed their best point into your own thinking before you reply.