Know-It-All Never Does

Sociologist Frederick Herzberg observed that “lack of discovery is the price we pay for certitude.” Still, many of us feel compelled to know everything about everything.

Q. My employees look to me for all of the answers. I try to keep on top of the whole shebang, but there’s just too much to keep abreast of. A lot of the time I fake it and hope for the best. I feel like a dummy. Is this a common problem among today’s bosses?

A. Don’t worry about being a dummy. Indeed, the truly moronic course of action is to act like a “know it all” because, if we think - or act like - we know everything, we’ll never learn anything.

It’s understandable that employees, rattled by the surge of change around them, will look to their boss for “the answers.” In an uncertain environment, they find comfort in “specific solutions” and detailed directions that enable them to perform with little doubt or risk. To provide the support they seek - and, on occasion, to save face - your natural tendency will be to struggle like hell to know all about everything … or at least “fake it” in a convincing manner.

Big mistake. Our best opportunities to forge change in new and different directions, - to achieve a significant edge over the competition, - often emanate from the things that we do not know. The “discoveries” produced by a struggle from ignorance can give us unique and enduring advantages.

It has been said that the beginning of wisdom lies in knowing - and appreciating - what one does not know and moving on from there. Nobel laureate Richard Feynman believed that “to solve any problem, you have to leave the door to the unknown ajar.”

A lack of certainty encourages learning and testing. If we know something “for sure,” there is no need to go further, to test a hypothesis that might give us an original result, something we’ve never before experienced. If we are brave enough to acknowledge that we do not know, we will be challenged to find out.

Physicist Feynman, who once called for a “philosophy of ignorance,” said “If you know you are not sure, you have a chance to improve the situation.” He attributed America’s innovative form of government to the ignorance of our founding fathers about governing.

“Nobody knew how to make a government or how to govern. The result (was) to invent a system … wherein new ideas can be developed and tried out and thrown away. The writers of the Constitution knew the value of doubt. In the age that they lived, for instance, science had already developed far enough to show the possibilities and potentialities that are the result of having uncertainty, the value of having the openness of possibility.”

But, treasuring even a modicum of ignorance in the business world isn’t easy. Nobody wants to look stupid. More importantly, certitude offers a lot more immediate comfort.

If we know things “for sure,” we do not have to open ourselves to the risks associated with searching, testing and changing the status quo. Having all the answers makes for comfortable living in the “forts” against change that we are all inclined to construct.

But, enterprises on the move can’t entrust their futures to people who are stuck in the predictable comfort of the present. A progressive organization must strive to create an atmosphere that encourages everyone to acknowledge what they do not know, to search, investigate and test. This is the only way in which someone will someday “find” the next laser, microchip or Prozac.

Organizational leaders must constantly inspire their followers to acknowledge their current “limitations” and appropriately reward them for adventuresome efforts to move beyond “what is.” Everyone’s job should be a “work in progress.”

One can find encouragement in a now-famous story about Thomas Watson, the founder of IBM. One of his vice presidents took it upon himself to initiate the development of a new product which ultimately failed and cost the firm in the neighborhood of $10 million.

After the dust had cleared, Watson summoned the young man to his office. Upon meeting Watson, the executive acknowledged what he thought was inevitable and said, “I guess you want my resignation?” Watson replied, “Nonsense. We’ve just spent $10 million dollars educating you.”