Many organizations still suffer because they give titles, money, and prestige to the people who know more things. People in these organizations fight each other to be the ones who have the answer. They may employ huge bureaucracies to hunt down the answers. They dedicate their precious leadership time to figuring out and defending their version of the answer. This may have been a fine way to run organizations BGE (before Google era). But it’s awful now; our work these days is too fast, lean, and interrelated.
What we really need is not knowing. We need to wonder, listen, understand, test assumptions, learn, listen even more, and adjust course. We must do this quickly, continuously, and together.
Yes, we’re building and using knowledge. But in a far more productive way.
In your corner,
Mike
PS: Besides, not knowing is an extremely freeing way to be and lead. “Tell me what you think,” is way less stressful and more productive than, “No, you’re wrong; this is the way it is.”
PPS: Not knowing is not the same as not making the call. As leaders, we still have to set standards & boundaries and make the call if the team can’t.