I remember once having a really heated debate with one of my team members. We held strongly divergent views on how to proceed with some of the Intellectual Property we were creating. A fellow board member was there, and tried to shut the debate down.
Afterwards, he asked me why I put up with a team member disagreeing with me in a group setting. I was surprised. It seemed to me to show a real lack of self confidence *not* to allow debate.
But more than that, to shut down debate like that fails twice in my view. It means I’m not open to the possibility of a better answer than the one I thought of, and also that it stops us growing a culture of independent thought.