March 21, 2022

How ‘what you know’ can hurt you

car exterior mirror showing blind spot

Mark Twain said “It is not what we don’t know that gets us into trouble. It is what we think we know for sure.”

What we think we know for sure becomes a blind spot because we stop examining it, and we all have these blind spots. Many of them.

One way to help uncover your blind spots is to ask others their opinion, especially others who see the world a bit differently to you. That means they have valuable information for you, if only you are prepared to listen with the goal of understanding. To listen with curiosity rather than judgment.

Value and use the diversity of thinking that is around you rather than simply dismiss others as people who simply can’t or won’t understand that what you know is ‘right’ and what they know is ‘wrong’.

Ask “What are we each assuming that is different, so we get different answers?”

You may still disagree with them, but you do now have more insight. That will make you much more flexible in your ability to solve problems and then communicate those solutions to others.

My best wishes, Paul

Paul Matthews

CEO and Founder of People Alchemy

share this article:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

related posts

Labrador puppies on a lawn

Learning from puppies: Training is for life not just for Christmas

Training is often still just focused on the training event. But to generate impact we need to create capability and see ourselves as capability managers.

Read More
cat stretched out comfortably on a cat sofa

Do you already know the cure?

Everyone seems to be searching for the magic information that will make a big difference in their lives. The truth is… you already know.

Read More

Setting up learning for success

In the second of two articles on establishing successful learning, Paul Matthews examines collective responsibility

Read More

Setting expectations

Setting up learning for success – In part 1 of 2 practical articles on how to establish successful training programmes Paul focusses on setting expectations

Read More

search blog

Get your free weekly tip

You agree that we can keep a record of your details, and send you other occasional offers. See our Privacy Policy