The Most Dangerous Lie Leaders Believe
The most dangerous lie leaders tell themselves is, “I know.”
DeBono wisely said, “Those who think they know, don’t.” All leaders fall prey to this lie, yes all. How many times have you thought you knew but discovered you didn’t?
You think what you think, because it’s right. Right?
You know too much because:
- You confused smarts with knowledge. Being smart concerns brain power; knowledge is about information. Is information growing exponentially? Then you don’t know.
- You forgot knowledge evolves because circumstances, research, and people change.
- You’ve been right before which makes you think your solutions were the only or best solutions. Truth is, they just worked.
Thinking you know when you don’t is dangerous because knowing:
- Closes minds.
- Creates defensive postures.
- Casts dissenters in negative lights.
- Ends curiosity.
Solving the knowing problem:
- Keep curiosity alive by slowing down. Fast answers end questions and exploration. Give your team more time to explore. Once again a quick brain becomes a problem. Maybe you should pretend you are dumb?
- Seek input from diverse sources. Diversity explodes knowing. Bring your ideas up to accounting, custodial, or support staff. Talk to the guy on the street. They’ll show you you don’t know. “The best ideas emerge when very different perspectives meet.” Frans Johansson (Tweeted by @CFALeadercast)
- Entertain the notion there’s more to know. Worse yet, let the uncomfortable words, “I don’t know,” bounce around in your head.
A tension:
Robert Sutton suggests you need enough doubt to keep an open mind and enough confidence to move forward. I bet you aren’t good at doubting.
Doubting your knowing is the beginning of knowing.
Do you think the belief that we know when we don’t is the most dangerous leadership lie leaders believe? If not, which lie would you suggest?
What are the symptoms and cures of thinking we know when we don’t?
I get a little know-it-all-y, so thanks, Dan, for reminding me to keep my ears and eyes open and slow down. Great advice for me…everyday!
Thanks for the good word Anne. You have my best wishes for success.
Confucius said: “Shall I tell you what wisdom is? When you know a thing, to know that you know it, and when you do not know a thing, to know that you do not know it.”
Another thought-provoker – thanks again Dan.
Joe, your quote reminds me of my grandpa. He said, “I’ve lived long enough that I’m starting to know all the things I don’t know.” I guess for many of us, wisdom comes slowly.
Hi Joe,
Great quote and what a challenge. One problem is it seems to take longer to not know than it does to know.
Best to you,
Dan
This is a lie almost everyone tells him/herself, not just leaders. When I teach problem-solving, one of the hardest things is to get people to do the first step: Information-gathering. They think they know, so they come up with solutions based on what they think to be true.
I remember as a young lieutenant standing by a stream with a platoon of engineers and all the components of a Bailey bridge. Our mission: to put in a bridge at those coordinates. The problem: there was already a bridge there. Headquarters “knew” we needed a bridge there, so no one went to look first. The wasted cost of moving all those people and equipment for nothing: I have no idea, but a lot.
I don’t know what the symptoms of this problem are, although I think an absence of questions is one. The cure is exactly that: ask questions. Verify your knowledge. “If I understand correctly, this is what we do.” “No, boss, sorry, we used to do it that way but now . . .”
Hi Greg,
Great story. I might call you sometime to get more info so that I can use it. Of course we can change the names to protect the guilty. 🙂
Sounds like the bridge to nowhere.
Best to you,
Dan
Heh, in all honesty one of the guilty was me. There’s this thing called “Leader’s Recon,” and I didn’t do it. I accepted that my higher-ups did in fact know.
Crack me up Greg, what a great example and way to own it. Maybe it is a variation…know, but verify.
Oh, Doc, the stories I could tell (about myself). There’s a reason they say the most dangerous thing in the Army is a 2nd Lieutenant with a map and compass. You can lose entire units that way.
“The cure for advice giving is curiosity.” I read this long ago and it has stuck with me. I use it with my clients often. Also, Dan, our minds are running along the same track again. Mentorboom.com has a recent post entitled “Self Confidence versus Self Questioning.”
Hi Mentor,
Great quote. We all know how advice giving is viewed as criticism… but curiosity is a horse of a different color. It makes people feel important. Powerful.
Best to you,
Dan
I think relying on what you already know and refusing to listen to new ideas is so easy to do for an experienced leader. I think that this tends to lead to not listening to new ideas. Sometimes an idea proposed sounds similar to one that failed before so it is rejected without being fully explored. I think that sometimes an idea that worked in one setting is automatically assumed to work in every setting. Being open to new and different ideas is important as a leader.
As part of a mentoring program, we put people through some training. As part of that training we tell people that there is always more than one right answer. Never stop at the first answer. Keeping looking for the next right answer. There are always options and sometimes many of those options are good. To stop asking questions because you have arrived at an answer means that you might miss out on the best answer.
Hi Bonnie,
The idea in your comment that really popped for me is good ideas aren’t necessarily transferable. What works in one place may not work in another. A good idea is a seductive thing.
Best to you,
Dan
This is choice. I find myself guilty of trying to transfer directly ideas that worked in one situation to the current situation. There are principles to learn from that successful situation, but I need to remind myself that a success doesn’t mean that this solution is universal. Every situation has many variables, some of which I haven’t recognized or tried to qualify.
Thanks Dan. This is great. I just hope that leaders, bosses, CEO’s will actually take this sound advice and practice it. Thats how we get better (maybe smarter too) We need to practice listening and always remain teachable. Thanks again. Take CARE.
Al
Hi Al,
thanks for bringing listening and teachability to the conversation. Great words with powerful application in this context.
Best,
Dan
This reminds me of my sophomore year in college. I took a 3 units course titled Modern Physics (PHY 205) which was taught by a Professor.
One day during lecture, the professor was explaining the concept of “Pions & Muons” to the class and we were obviously struggling to understand him. Amidst the lecture a colleague raised his hand to ask a question based on the topic, the professor paused, looked startled & after a few minutes replied;
“I have studied & researched this course for my PhD, how come i never thought about your question before”.
The professor humbly agreed he had no answer to the question despite his long years of studying/teaching the course as a professor.
The professor’s response really got me thinking while also confirming the possibility of not knowing it all in a field, yet be a master in the same field.
Knowing and agreeing that there’s more to know, the class took a different form. I had an ‘A’ in the course because i kept an open mind & the professor also welcomed our contributions too.
Part of the symptoms of thinking we know is the false high-level perception we create and the emptiness with which we impart those who think we know.
The cure however, includes not shying away from letting others know that we don’t know, so that we all can keep open minds with the desire to know more.
Solomon,
I’m thankful to see you again and hope you become a regular.
This story is priceless. I love the power of letting others know we don’t know.
A leader who didn’t know invited your participation and interest. Powerful points.
Best wishes,
Dan
It’s like what they said “when you’re caught fishing at the pond, you asked instead “hay what are you doing here?”
Thanks Juddy, I’ll stay away from the pond. 🙂
Dan —
There is just so much goodness here in your post and all the comments that follow.
Not knowing and making yourself vulnerable in your not-knowing is, paradoxically, one of the most powerful stances a leader can take.
It’s not the same thing as lack of confidence or lack of courage. Quite the contrary. Saying “I don’t know” is perhaps the most courageous thing a leader can do in our expert-driven culture.
“Entertain the notion there’s more to know.” I hear this as you talking about learning. Maybe even lifelong learning. While many of us aspire to this, in reality it’s a kind of scary notion because all that learning means changing. And we know how we feel about change ….
Thanks for waking me up this morning
M
Michael –
Thanks for sharing your insights. You’ve added great terms like vulnerability.
It stands to reason if knowing too much is the most dangerous lie leaders believe (thats up for debate) then solving it presents the most powerful leadership tools and advancements we can offer.
The trouble with learning something new is it changes something I thought I knew. Sometimes I have to reformat my harddrive and start again. A round world and the sun as the center of our solar system are two examples that caused major reboots.
Best to you,
Dan
My intial response to this article is “I know”. 🙂 I am so encouraged to see the push for leaders to be teachable. I am convinced that we jump 2-3 steps ahead when we drive people towards leading when they have never learned to follow. I of course am thinking about faith leadership but it is a model that has proven powerful. Jesus washed his disciples feet. Servant leadership is right for every organization that cares about people and the integrity of their product. Just one mans opinion… Thx Dan
“The one who loves discipline loves knowledge but he who hates correction is stupid” Proverbs 12:1
Pastor,
Love your opening line! I knew you were going to write that. 😉
You’ve added another important idea. When we know too much we usually leap ahead too fast.
Great seeing you again.
Best,
Dan
“The more I find out – the less that I know…” and dammit Dan – I’m RIGHT about this!!
To piggy-back on your first point today, an old negotiating law fits also… “Dumb is smart – Smart is dumb” – you’ll be amazed at what people are willing to tell you when they believe you don’t really know.
Cheers
Scott!
You are right. I knew you would be. Thanks for a good chuckle my friend.
When we know less, others know more!
Thanks for your insights.
Best to you,
Dan
Is this a ‘tense’ thing? Do we ever really know, but actually only knew. As soon as you know, you are dated, time stamped and with increasing information availability, soon to be obsolete.
Knowing implies an end point and that becomes a dangerous place.
Perhaps substituting know with learn would shift things in a growth frame? I learn or I am learning instead of I know.
Doc, I’ll add to that – “we actually only thought we knew, and immediately we know something more, something different (like another Bailey Bridge – what a crack up!). I remind myself the truth only happens once, everything else is a facsimilie, so never assume you are operating with anything but a facsimilie of the ‘facts’. Best,
Richard
Hi Doc,
I suppose we should say that knowing ends learning.
Love the past tense approach. Leaders who know are past tense in our present world.
Thank you for your philosophical insights.
Best to you,
Dan
I think a close cousin to this concept are those people.. leaders.. who speak in “absolutes”. These are the folks who tend to be authoritatively vocal about their own opinions and present them in such ways as to suggest inflexibility, or in the least ignorance of an obvious outcome. “There is NO way the company is going to make us do that!” (Well, yeah.. the company CAN make you do that or you risk loosing your job.). “I am NOT going to bend an inch for that bunch in accounting.” (Well, yeah.. it’s either find a compromise or nothing gets done.).
In this kind of person the “lie” is implying with some authority that your opinion means more than the outcome based on your own perceptions on what SHOULD be, rather than substantial facts about what COULD be.
Hi Doug,
Thanks for becoming a regular contributor. I appreciate your insights.
Perhaps the more we think we know the more confident we become. Knowing breeds confidence and confidence closes the mind.
We’ll have to figure out confidence without knowing.. perhaps it’s confidence in our ability to learn (thanks Doc) and our ability to adapt as we go. That sounds healthy and useful.
Best to you,
Dan
With that arrogant inflexibility often comes embarrassment, followed by a healthy dose of humility…if one learns from the experience.
Dan:
Such a great and timely post I must say. Kouzes and Posner often say “the best leaders are the best learners.” The reason they say that tie directly into your post. One can never know it all and when they think they do they open up a large window of leading in the wrong direction. Your three points under the knowledge problem are spot on, and filling your knowledge gaps is crucial to development.
James
Hi James,
Thanks for your comment and the good word.
Kouzes and Posner rock. Thanks for the quote.
Best,
Dan
Do you think the belief that we know when we don’t is the most dangerous leadership lie leaders believe? If not, which lie would you suggest?
I guess the variation/spin I would put on this is it’s not the saying that “we know when we don’t” that is inherently dangerous, but the dangerous is being closed to getting information from various angles, especially if those angles come from people with different viewpoints and styles.
What are the symptoms and cures of thinking we know when we don’t?
This goes back to interviewing the janitor, the receptionist, and the vending machine delivery personnel. Informal channels are the most fruitful sometimes! It’s discounting these channels that is one of the signs of “thinking we know.”
John Cleese of Monty Python has a 4 minute video about goofy questions he has gotten over the years and about truly stupid people…takes not knowing to an extreme, worth the Google.
Tends to imply there is no cure…ouch!
Hi Paula,
Isn’t it odd how thinking we know closes our minds and limits our view. You would expect just the opposite. But those who really know have come to realize they know very little and how much more there is.
When we think we don’t have much to learn we don’t know what we think we know. hmmmm, How does that sound?
Best,
Dan
We have met the enemy and he is us….Pogo
…But i Can’t go on..
Vladimir; tha’s what you think..
When I was living in Indonesia, an Australian friend who had lived there for more than 25 years had a number of sayings for expats living there. His classic one was “The longer I live here, the more I realise how little I know”.
This has stayed with me for my years as an Expat, but is hopefully how I act as a Manager and Leader in the work environment.
Alistair,
I can see how learning a culture is moving from knowing to not knowing to knowing to not knowing to gee! I thought I knew that or I had no idea… great illustration.
Best to you,
Dan
I completely agree, Dan. I call it “remaining stupid” – the power of recognizing that you don’t “know” things, and that your focus should be on “learning”, instead. I wrote a post on that topic (http://stratecutionstories.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/remaining-stupid/). Also, wrote one recently on the importance of skepticism and doubt, which you hit upon, as well (http://stratecutionstories.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/healthy-skepticism-why-doubting-is-good/). Let me know if you get a chance to peek…
mb
Thanks Michael,
“Remaining stupid” is a rockin expression. Seriously.
I stopped over to your blog and really appreciate your insights.
Best,
Dan
Your piece today reminds me of one of Ackoff’s f-laws…
“When leaders say something is obvious [“It’s obvious…”], it does not mean that it is unquestionable, but rather that they are unwilling to have it questioned.”
“Leaders” that think they “know” and quell questioning their “knowing” are at best Managers and at worse Administrators.
BTW, how is the rehab coming along? Have you learned to love your PT person?
Hi Jim,
Leaders who know too much don’t like being questioned. OUCH! The next time I want a kick in the pants I’ll call you. 😉
Rehab is going well and I do love my PY guy. He’s doing a great job. It’s true that he wipes me out. I’m all talkative on the way to therapy and pretty quiet on the way home.
Thanks for asking.
Best to you,
Dan
dear Dan, i used to be in that trap before until i also learnt how silly it was. this article has helped me understand more reasons why i and no one can ever know enough.
you’re doing such a good work, keep it up!
Dear Danny,
Thanks for your encouraging comment. The path of fruitful living is paved with life long learning.
Best,
Dan
Great post, Thanks 😉
When I was younger, I would sometimes say (only somewhat jokingly) “People who think they know everything really annoy those of us who do.” As I’ve grown older (and I hope wiser) I’ve come to realize I’ve become much less certain about most things, and I’m actually learning to be OK with that. It can be a sobering though when one stops for a moment to think: How much of what I “know” do I really, truly KNOW. Not knowing is quite liberating.
If thinking we know when we don’t isn’t the most dangerous thing, it is certainly in the top ten. I think one cause is also that when (relatively) insecure people succeed beyond their expectations (Peter Principle) they decide that whatever they did to succeed is all that is necessary and keep solving the same problem over and over.
Dan, I am a consultant helping individuals, couples and teams developing a deeper understanding of themselves and others. Using a wide variety of assessments I still know even with the great depth of information these provide they are not comprihensive. In the Jahara window the frame that say I don’t know and you don’t know applys here. We always need be very slow to judge others for we have no idea the complex background from which they come.
Thanks for your blog! I would like your permission to use your material and share with other who would greatly benefit your insights.
Truett King
“…Maybe you should pretend you are dumb?” Is an excellent point!!! I will do this much more both in my personal life and business. I find that people’s defenses go down when you don’t threaten them with what you know (or think you know). A tension free zone. Thanks for this excellent point.