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Something Worth SharingThe ‘I Know’ ProblemEven though he possibly has no idea about this, my estranged uncle taught me many things about life. This was the uncle that had been Sales Director for 40 years in our family’s business - that is, until I made him redundant in 2003. One of the biggest lessons he gifted me was back when I was a new recruit into the family business - as a wide-eyed and naive graduate. One day, while walking through the main office, he stopped me to discuss something. I was probably about 21 or 22 at the time. He was telling me about a customer and chatted for about 5 minutes - I stood eagerly nodding along and as he finished, I jumped in with “I know”. My uncle’s response to this was a very curt one; he quickly asked: “why do you think you know everything?”. In my eagerness to get things done in the business, plus my inexperience, I used “I know” quite a lot. I learned the hard way that this can create a fair few problems: Just saying it sounds arrogant, even if it isn’t meant in an arrogant way Knowing isn’t enough on its own What you do with ‘the knowing’ is what creates wisdom Thinking you know everything closes your mind and opportunities There are times to know and time to not know Failing to embrace ‘not knowing’ means you miss the humility, learning and growth potential.
I recently had the good fortune of being sent a galley copy of a book due to launch later this year that talks to the problem of “I know”. The book reminded me of this: There is what we know, what we know we don’t know and then what we don’t know we don’t know.
Over the years I’ve come to realise there is way more stuff I don’t know than I can ever know - and that this is not just okay, it’s exciting. Aged 22, I did think I knew everything - and now all I know is that I hardly know anything at all.
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