The Beginner's Mindset

Knowledge begins with a single statement: "I don't know." That question can start us off on exciting (or frustrating) journeys, and can open our eyes, minds, and hearts to new perspectives, new approaches, and even new solutions.

But what happens when we stop saying "I don't know"?

That is a key question, and not just in the world of "knowledge work", but for all of us.

Blank Slate

As children, we come into the world as some describe it a tabula rasa, a blank slate. Everything is new, everywhere there is something new to learn and experience, and along with that newness is a sense of wonder and awe - and an interest in learning for the sake of learning.

This is what I call The Beginner's Mindset. It is a mindset that approaches every situation with a sense of curiosity, openness, and a willingness to learn. It acknowledges that there is always more to learn, regardless of how much expertise or knowledgeone already possesses. It is a mindset that says, "I may not know, but I am willing to learn."

Growing into Experts

As we grow, and we develop mastery in various areas, we start to see ourselves as competent, confident, capable people who KNOW things. And that confidence is what allows us to face new challenges, solve new problems, and exploit new opportunities. It helps us become experts.

This is a fantastic thing - subject matter experts are critical in every field of work. We have crucial, domain and situation specific knowledge and experience that helps us see past the noise into the heart of an issue, and find real, meaningful solutions.

The Double-Edged Sword

That expertise can have a downside, though. When we become subject matter experts, that confidence we have developed can start to color our own perceptions about just how much we know in areas beyond our area of expertise - and make us think we know more than we actually do in domains outside of our typical scope. Psychologically, this is referred to as the Dunning-Kruger Effect, which is defined as cognitive bias in which people wrongly overestimate their knowledge or ability in a specific area.

We often think of people who are GENERALLY incompetent as being afflicted by the Dunning-Kruger Effect, but people who are REALLY CONFIDENT, even EXPERTS, in a particular domain can be afflicted by it as well.

The Expert Trap

I call this the Expert Trap - when a person is a recognized expert in one area believes, and is believed by others, to be an expert in something else, especially something that is completely unrelated to their area of demonstrated expertise. I've even heard people say, "I'm smart, I should be able to do this."

I've seen this in the wild in many situations. One situation that always jumps to mind occurred when I was facilitating a training in Outdoor Skills for a group of adult volunteers. There were two highly accomplished women in the group: one had a PhD in Chemistry and worked as a Plant Engineer for a major chemical company, and the other had an advanced degree in finance and worked as a CFO for a fairly large company in the oil and gas industry. Undoubtedly, two people who had broad and deep expertise.

Until it came to building a fire. Throughout instruction, they seemed to be listening, as went through the basics needs of a fire (something to burn, air, spark), the types of wood and their characteristics (tinder, kindling, fuel), how much of each was needed (WAY more tinder and kindling than you think, handfuls of it), and exactly how to lay a fire (basic A-frame).

I sent the group off to gather their wood, and return and build the fire. One fire was going to become the fire we cooked lunch on, all the others just needed to be laid, lit, and then self-sustaining for 2 minutes or so.

Of the 20 people in the group, after 10 minutes, 18 of them had successfully built and lit a self-sustaining fire. But two were struggling.

I had been watching both participants, as I saw when they came back from gathering wood that they didn't have NEARLY enough tinder or kindling - I could tell that it would light, be consumed very quickly, and not propagate a flame. And in this instance, I did not immediately tell them, because it was clearly something they needed to learn for themselves.

"I reject your reality and substitute my own."

I let them both struggle for a bit, and then started to ask questions.

How is it going? Did you get the results you expected? What do you think is going on?

Finally, I asked, "Did you get the amount of tinder and kindling I recommended?" The answer was no. I asked why, and the response was, "because I didn't think I needed that much."

And there it was, in stark relief: The Expert Trap, and they had fallen into it.

These two highly accomplished women had disregarded what I had taught them because THEY THOUGHT THEY KNEW BETTER. And that is exactly what the expert trap: a cognitive bias about ourselves that makes us think we know more than we do, and prevents us from making a simple statement: "I don't know."

The importance of "I don't know"

Once they let go of their own preconceived notions of their own umbrella expertise, and said "I don't know how to do this," we started over. From scratch. And they both successfully built and lit a self-sustaining fire. And the look of accomplishment on their faces, after having failed, has never left me. When they let themselves be beginners, they truly learned how to do something new.

And I hope, that day, they also learned how to let themselves be beginners - how to embrace the Beginner's Mindset.