Knowledge and experience seem like a good thing, right? Knowing stuff is usually an advantage.

But sometimes…it’s not. Sometimes knowledge actually holds us back because when we think we know, we’re less likely to go looking for new ideas and next right answers.

In her Brigham Young University forum address, Liz Wiseman explains the advantages of not knowing everything, how that rookie headspace has been a boon in her career, and how beginner mindset can serve all of us and our organizations.

Main takeaways:

• When you don’t know and you know you don’t know (say that 5 times fast), you are thirsty to learn.

• Experience has advantages…and blind spots.

• When we’re learning, we feel challenged. When we feel challenged, we feel more fulfilled.

• We can escape the “trap of knowledge” and tap into the advantages of the beginner mindset.

Why Knowledge Isn’t Everything

We aren’t saying knowledge is a bad thing. Not at all. Knowledge is great and can give us more context as we learn, but the problem happens when knowledge starts getting in the way of learning and creativity.

Knowledge is great, but it must be coupled with wisdom and curiosity.

The Pitfalls of Experience

“Our businesses are moving so fast that we don’t face the same challenge twice. The world is moving quickly.” -Liz Wiseman

One problem with knowledge is that it can quickly become irrelevant.

In her talk, Wiseman explains that, especially in STEM fields, “based on the rate at which knowledge is increasing and…decaying…about 15% of what we know today is likely to be relevant in five years…And we don’t even know which 15% this is.”

WOW, right?

This doesn’t mean we don’t want knowledge, but we never want to think we know ENOUGH and don’t need to learn more. Because in a few years, most of that knowledge will be about as useful as a sundial in Scotland.

Knowledge and experience can also close us off to possibility. When we think we already know what to do, we don’t go looking for—or even notice—alternatives that might be even better.

Finally, knowing everything (or thinking we do) is just boring. As Wiseman says, “Who wants a job they’re qualified for? There’d be nothing to learn.”

How Does This Look at Redmond?

We’ve been in business for more than 30 years, so we could easily fall into the trap of thinking we know what we’re doing and don’t need to learn more.

So how do we keep the possibilities flowing?

Here are some of our key practices.

We pursue understanding and let solutions emerge from that.

We try not to start from a place of thinking we know what to do. Instead, we find much better solutions when we thoroughly explore, understand, and collaborate on the situation.

Remember that thing about 15% of our current knowledge still being relevant in 5 years? This is a great way to stay on top of that.

In Wiseman’s talk, she tells the story of a college professor who threw out his notes because his students “deserved his fresh thinking and ideas every semester.”

When you don’t have set-in-stone notes and knowledge, you’re forced to look at situations with fresh perspective. Sure, you’ll retain knowledge and approach those situations with more context, but don’t assume that you already have all the knowledge and tools you need.

We fill roles based more on aptitude than skills.

When someone’s doing something that’s helpful, that they’re wired for, and that fills their cup, they’ll be driven to learn, improve, and keep growing forever. There’s a LOT more runway when those three things are in place.

We also try to get people in roles where they can pursue their 3 circles and make their highest contribution.  

We do care about skills and knowledge, but if a person isn’t passionate about or wired for a certain role, it’s not gonna work for long. Instead, we create customized roles they’re wired for and passionate about, even if they don’t have all the skills yet. Because if they’re talented and excited, they’ll pick up those skills in no time.

Our associates rarely have degrees or professional credentials that relate to their roles. (Some do, but it’s not the norm around here.)

Knowledge and 3 circles don’t always overlap at first. We have a guy with an accounting degree who is now on the culture team and helps with HR. We have a graphic designer who also works on product development and is a self-taught chef (and cooks for a lot of our retreats and company events!).

We don’t work with “experts” or consultants.

“In fast times, everyone’s winging it, including leaders.” - Liz Wiseman

When we bump up to an issue or want to grow an area of the company, we rarely hire outside “experts.” Instead, we explore, discuss, and collaborate to find the best solutions and learn together.

Sure, we might bring someone in if we need specific skills training and that’s the fastest way to do it. We also love meeting with thought leaders and authors whose work resonates with us, but in a conversational capacity, not as a teacher-student consultant basis.

And we definitely don’t work with consultants for things like management.

This is because experts may not resonate with our values and way of doing business, which means they won’t see the possibilities for how we can elevate the human experience. They will teach only what they know, according to their own values and paradigms, instead of learning and growing with us.

We don’t expect you to know everything here. We don’t want you to prove yourself, we want you to improve yourself.

Admitting you don’t know is a key step in learning, both together and as individuals.

We encourage curiosity and questions.

“Shift from place of knowing and work from a place of inquiry.” - Liz Wiseman

Curiosity is crucial.

That’s why one of our core values is Occhiolism. We know the importance of seeking other perspectives, because our own is limited.

We read books, we talk about ideas, we encourage everyone to pursue their interests and keep learning.  

We’re also big fans of good questions. Here are some of our go-tos:

• What are we seeing?
• What are we missing?
• What does it mean?
• What’s the best imaginable?
• What’s the next right answer?

This is part of our pursuit of understanding. (For more information, check out Habit 5 of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.)

Keep an Open Mind

What’s way more useful than raw knowledge? Hunger, wisdom, resourcefulness, aptitude, openness to possibility, and passion.

Knowledge is great, but it can become a ball and chain if you don’t temper it with curiosity, wisdom, creativity, resourcefulness, and collaboration.

Keep learning, keep growing, and remember, “I don’t know” is a beautiful sentence that leads to so much possibility.

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