curiosity, re-visiting our ideas and approaches results in better outcomes

Everyone, but especially business owners and professional advisors, should read Think Again. The author, Adam Grant, is an organizational psychologist, professor, and New York Times bestselling author many times over... a thought leader, to be sure. In the book, he encourages us to literally think again about our opinions, our interactions with others and how we approach the realities of our everyday. When we’re truly aware of what we don’t know – and not afraid of it – we can embrace new experiences and challenges with an open-minded, scientific curiosity. Pursuing truth rather than rightness, humble confidence rather than over-confidence. 

The Dunning-Kruger effect  

But how is recognizing and admitting to ourselves we may not know as much as we think we do, useful? Grant talks about the Dunning-Kruger effect – the idea that we tend to be overconfident in situations where we likely lack competence. According to him, when we’re certain we know something, we’re at our most dangerous because we have no reason to look for gaps and flaws in our knowledge. No reason to unlearn or rethink and plenty of opportunity to be wrong and flaunt it.  

Imagine you’re a business owner getting ready to retire. You’ve spent your entire working life running your business and your adult child has spent the last 15 years working for you. They know the ins and outs of day-to-day operations, what the legacy of the business means to you and that you want to spend your retirement living at a second property outside the city. For so many reasons, they’re who you imagine will succeed you when you exit. But now, on the cusp of retirement, your child tells you they aren’t interested because they’re happy in the management position they’re in and do not want the additional responsibilities of being an owner. You’re left scrambling without a plan. 

When we acknowledge we don’t know something, we’re free to be curious and open to learning. In this case, your child’s long-term employment led to assumption making which led to overconfidence. You didn’t need a transition plan because you already had it figured out. You had no reason to question yourself and ultimately missed out on opportunities to seek professional advice and plan accordingly.  

Confident humility 

So, over-confidence is a problem but what is the alternative? For many people, the line between over-confidence and meekness is a difficult one to discern. But it’s not a matter of “either or.” Grant advocates for the sweet spot he calls confident humility, or “... having faith in our capabilities while also understanding that we may not have the right solution or even be addressing the right problem. That gives us enough doubt to re-examine our old knowledge and enough confidence to pursue new insights.” 1 The confidence to know your experiences and skills are valuable, but not so confident you stop looking for ways to improve. 

Now let’s say you’re an advisor getting to know a potential client. They’re telling you about their business and some of the struggles they’ve recently been having with the idea of transition planning. You have two options. You can listen to respond, or you can listen to discover.  

Option one involves listening only for cues and clues to the extent you can offer up a hasty solution. Your focus is on how you’re going to respond, not what’s actually being said. The details of their situation, their hopes and fears, are lost in translation. You’re (over) confident in your assumption you can help them because you’ve helped others in similar situations and because on paper, you’re a qualified professional.  

Option two starts with acknowledging you don’t know this person or their situation. Beginning to understand means leading with a scientific-like curiosity – listen, ask questions and set aside whatever it is you think you know to make room for all the things you have yet to. If the occasion arises and you have an opportunity to help craft a solution, it will be tailored to the truth of their situation, not the assumptions you made about it.  

Wrong in the short-term, right in the long-term 

Grant also talks about how great (political) forecasters love being wrong (in the short-term) because they want to be right (in the long-term). Think about it; the faster we accept we’re wrong about something, the quicker we can get on to being right about it. Of course, this isn’t always easy to do, particularly when we define ourselves by what we believe we know. It becomes hard to question things when we’ve allowed them to become pillars of our identity. Think political affiliations or professional titles and accreditations. 

Instead, we should try to define ourselves by our values: strength or curiosity, kindness or fairness. When we learn something that contradicts what we previously thought to be true, we can more easily change our minds if it means we are doing so in the name of a guiding principle. 

For an advisor this may look like letting go of a very rigid way of crafting plans in favour of a more bespoke process. For example, “I usually use a series of pre-determined questions to uncover information about a new client. This helps me collect information but is not conversational and often feels uncomfortable and even cold. It closes doors for me to be curious and listen to cues about areas my client may want to discuss. It doesn’t allow me to embrace my values and curiosity and the kind of practice and reputation I am trying to build.” 

Think Again is recommended by advisor Joe Slatter, creator of Better Practice™ and RFN Academy contributor and educator. He knows one of the keys to being successful is meaningful collaboration and this book is the perfect compliment. To be most effective, collaboration requires diversity – of opinion, experience and background. Teams need to feel they can have worthwhile conversations, especially ones that are messy and uncomfortable. Why? Because they challenge us to rethink our own views and help us become aware of what we may not know. If we let them, they can teach us how to be better, together.  

To see an example of curiosity, unlearning and open-minded collaboration in action check out Think Again, Together: a collaborative article by Joe Slatter and Jordan Lee.