The Illusion of Knowledge

So what are you reading? I just started Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which is certainly a departure from the business books that typically keep me busy. I had to present a paper on Gibbon's classic back in high school and I’ve been wanting to re-read it. With trips to Europe and Africa in the months ahead, the timing is perfect for a book nearly 3 inches thick!

Daniel Boorstin’s introduction had an interesting quote: “For Gibbon, while human nature is anything but unintelligible, it remains only partly explicable. For him the menace to understanding was not so much ignorance as the illusion of knowledge.”

In my business of speaking and executive coaching I have the opportunity to help leaders become more productive by learning rich theories and models that explain personality styles and other aspects of human nature. Yet upon reflection, I’m probably less immune than I want to admit to the illusion of knowledge—that I can explain it all because “they’re an ENTJ” or “a High D”, when in fact I’m over-simplifying and perhaps being held back from greater understanding because of it.

I can too easily jump to conclusions about people. I can put people in a style box and not recognize when they're trying to be more versatile. I can try to apply simple solutions to complex problems.

What about you? Are you being held back from deeper understanding on something because you hold up the illusion of knowledge? How willing are you to take a fresh look at long held convictions? When was the last time you admitted, "I'm not really sure. I will look into that more."

As we discuss in our keynote "Lipstick on a Pig: How Illusion Leads to Crisis in Real World Projects", reality has this annoying way of always winning. Here's to all of us gaining greater understanding by being more willing to combat the illusion of knowledge.

Labels: illusion, Lipstick on a Pig, personality styles, reality, uncertainty

posted by Andy at 10:52 PM