Choosing partnership over "certainty theatre"

In warfare, when you know more than your enemy, it's called information asymmetry. The idea is that you want to have a tactical advantage over your adversary so that you can defeat them. I would hope that an agency-client relationship is fundamentally different to this.Why, then, don't we admit when we don't know things?Whether it's the client who uses AI to create a confident-sounding brief (but doesn't fully understand all of the terms used in it), or the consultant/agency that promises everything will run smoothly according to their Gantt chart, I think we need to be a bit more honest with one another. “Certainty theatre” is my way of giving a name to the pretence and performance that everyone knows exactly what's going on, is aware of everything that needs doing, and so let's just stop wasting time and get on with it. The desire to avoid wasting money, protect reputations, and keep bosses and funders happy may be understandable, but it leads to over-confident briefs, shiny slide…