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Why ‘I Don’t Know’ is Often the Smartest Answer
As a leader, one of the most important attributes that will set you up for success is intellectual humility. This is the ability to recognize that you don’t know everything, and it is okay to seek for the input and guidance from others.
This is often a tough one, because many people regard leaders as people with all the answers, and employees usually turn to their leaders when problems arise. It is okay to say ‘I don’t know’ when such situations come up.
Why is Intellectual Humility Important for Leaders?
For starters, intellectual humility, a.k.a. saying ‘I don’t know’, fosters collaboration in an organization because it sets the entire team on a path to learning and working as a unit. When everyone is working together, it is a lot easier to attain organizational goals.
Intellectual humility also paves the way for innovation. A leader who readily admits they don’t know opens the door to new ideas from their direct reports, and that can result in innovative products or solutions to better serve the needs of customers.
Admitting that you don’t know also makes it easier for you as a leader to grow your influence among the people you lead. This is because you become relatable and people will easily follow your lead since they see you as human enough to open up about the areas where you don’t have all the answers.
In contrast, leaders who project a know-it-all attitude are often seen as arrogant, and not many people look forward to interacting with them. As you know, leadership is all about influence, not a title or position you hold in an organization.
As a leader, being willing to say ‘I don’t know’ helps to grow your listening skills. Leaders who are adept listeners tend to enjoy lasting success because they are better able to anticipate and resolve conflicts, gain the loyalty of the people around them, and quickly adopt new ideas that improve their leadership style while also attaining organizational goals.
How to Become Comfortable Saying ‘I Don’t Know’
1. Don’t take it personal
Admitting that you don’t know shouldn’t take anything away from your sense of self. Given the fast pace at which new technologies and knowledge are being churned out, it is perfectly okay not to know everything even if you are a leader.
For example, ChatGPT is all the rage at the moment due to its immense capabilities and potential. However, would you beat yourself up over admitting that you have not yet used this AI tool? Not at all! It is very new technology and even if you are in the tech field, no one would hold anything against you for not having a firsthand experience of ChatGPT.
Normalize saying I don’ know.
2. Start by failing safely
When you think of it, our reluctance to admit that we don’t know something may have its roots in our fear of failure.
This fear could be because from early on in our lives, especially in school, we are socialized to strive for success and avoid failure. The kid who provides the right answers is applauded, while the one who gives a wrong answer can be ridiculed by their peers. We therefore learn that we must always have the right answer, and this carries on into adulthood.
To break this pattern, we need to train ourselves to embrace failure as part of life. Teach yourself to ‘fail safely’ until you can comfortable taking failure in stride.
Failing safely involves taking calculated risks for which failure will not have catastrophic results on your life. For example, if you suffer from public speaking anxiety (very few don’t!), set an objective to meet and chat with half a dozen strangers each week.
You are likely to bungle a number of those interactions, but this is unlikely to be catastrophic because the downside risk is minimal. That is, if it goes wrong, you walk away red-faced and live to try the next day!
As you notch up these little failures, you will soon become good at bouncing back after failure and the fear of failure will no longer hold you in its grip.
3. Learn from each failure
It would be pointless to fail safely if you aren’t picking lessons along the way. Learn from each failure and make the next attempt better.
For example, for each job interview that doesn’t end in a job offer, conduct a post-mortem to identify what you could have done better. Let this inform how you prepare for the next interview so that by the 10th interview, you are able to walk in brimming with confidence.
4. Embrace continuous learning
The more you learn, the more you realize how much more you need to learn. People who are life-long learners often find it easier to say ‘I don’t know’ because they know that learning is endless.
As a leader, you owe it to yourself and the organization you serve to be a continuous learner. This will boost your intellectual humility and make it easier to admit when you don’t know something or when you don’t have the answer that a team member seeks.
The strategies above can help you to gradually start feeling comfortable about saying ‘I don’t know.’ However, it won’t be easy, because it calls for changing at a deep, fundamental level. You will periodically feel imposter syndrome setting in, but stay the course and you will eventually become a new person that gladly admits it when they don’t know something. Don’t let your ego stand in the way of reaching your full potential as a leader!