Three little words that mean almost as much as another three that I use regularly. But why are these harder to utter?
Maybe it is because many people have been brought up with the need to ‘fix’ things, to be the expert because they are respected. Anyone who doesn’t know must be stupid. It has just been that way.
Luckily not any more. The more people I communicate with, the more I am noticing that people are willing to put their hand up and say ‘I don’t know’. Why is this? Well, I believe there may be a few reasons, especially in this current climate thanks to Covid-19.
Firstly, who would have thought that Australia in 2020 would see a continuation of drought, severe bushfires almost country-wide and then the devastating and life-changing virus. Now more than ever people are reassessing what they are doing and how they are doing it and learning new skills as they do so. This new environment is also opening them up to admitting that no one, not even you, have the answers … and there are certainly heaps of questions.
Secondly, although the tech age has been with us for some time, it appears that only now are people truly embracing it and, with the introduction of new platforms, software and technologies, are we now saying, ‘I don’t know’. This is indeed a huge learning curve for all of us.
We are finally accepting that ‘I don’t know’ is powerful. It is authentic and it is the only place from which you can grow.
