MOO — Most Obvious Objection
Spend two minutes pre-empting the objection you'll obviously get, and stop feeling blindsided.
- Difficulty
- Starter
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 97%
A pre-mortem for any message or pitch: before you share, ask what the most obvious objection to this is. You won't anticipate every objection, but the obvious ones surface almost instantly and preparing for them keeps you off your back foot and lets you address concerns before they're raised.
Origin
Coined by Wes Kao; MOO = Most Obvious Objection.
Core principles
- 01Being blindsided in meetings is usually a preparation failure, not bad luck
- 02Even a couple of seconds of thinking surfaces the obvious objections
- 03Knowing your counterarguments as well as your arguments is what prevents feeling caught off guard
- 04Anticipating objections often reveals a real gap in your proposal you can fix before presenting
- 05It doubles as an empathy tool — it forces you into the recipient's head
How to run it
- 1
Before sharing, ask the MOO question
Whatever you're about to write or say, pause and ask: how might someone disagree with this, or what might an objection be?
Pro tip Put 'MOO' on a post-it where you can see it to build the reflex.
- 2
List the obvious objections
Don't aim for every possible objection — just the ones that surface in the first two minutes of honest thought.
Watch out Trying to anticipate every conceivable objection is wasted effort; target only the obvious ones.
- 3
Pre-empt or reframe
Volunteer the answer to the likely objection upfront, or frame your point so the objection is less likely to arise. If an objection exposes a genuine gap, strengthen the proposal before presenting.
Pro tip An objection like 'this won't drive enough impact for the business' may be a signal not to pitch it right now.
In the wild
Kao says she uses MOO multiple times a day, every day — whatever she is about to say or write, she thinks how someone might disagree, then either volunteers that information upfront or frames it to reduce the objection. It has become muscle memory.
→ A structured, concrete way to think a couple of steps ahead and empathize with the audience in advance.
Common mistakes
Assuming you can't predict questions
People treat tough meeting questions as unpredictable and feel ambushed, when two minutes of forethought would have surfaced the obvious ones.
Is it for you?
Best for
Anyone presenting proposals, decisions, or recommendations in meetings or written docs and prone to feeling ambushed by questions.
Not ideal for
Low-stakes routine communication where objections carry no cost.
From the transcript
“MOO stands for most obvious objection”
“if you thought for even 2 minutes about what are obvious objections that I'm likely to get when I share this. You often immediately come…”
“are you going to be able to anticipate every single objection? No. But can you anticipate the obvious ones? Absolutely”
“I use Moo multiple times a day every day”
From the episode
Become a better communicator: Specific frameworks to improve your clarity, influence, and impact
Wes Kao (coach, entrepreneur, advisor)