I once saw a clip of a news conference where a high-ranking government official was talking about national security and the intelligence community. While his remarks made perfect sense when it comes to gathering intel, I started thinking about how it really is the secret to being successful at almost anything, including business, career, and in life.
The official explained that in intelligence, there are things that we know that we know. An example is something about which we are well educated and 100% confident, or we have hard proof. That knowledge keeps you a step ahead of adversaries. Then, there are things we know that we don’t know. For example, we may know an adversary is developing a weapon, but we’re not certain of its range, accuracy, capability or their intentions. At least we know this situation exists and requires more effort and resources to find out what is unknown. The final and most worrisome situation is the things we don’t even know that we don’t know. In this case, we are clueless and may be caught off guard or unprepared at any time.
My world of branding, marketing and creative services is pretty far removed from national security, but it seems to me that understanding these concepts can help almost anyone do better in their career.
The most important are the second and third scenarios. They are also the most difficult to recognize and accept. It forces us to realize that we don’t know everything, in spite of the degree hanging on the wall or the months of experience on the job. In some cases, maybe deep down we realize we need someone to help us figure out what we don’t know, but we don’t want to admit it publicly, or just don’t want out boss to find out. No decent boss would fire someone for not knowing something. Instead, the employee’s willingness to admit it and their ability to find answers or bring in outside help is a greater test of that employee’s value.
The three-part philosophy provides a valuable lesson about life in general. Never quit learning and be proud and confident about what you know. At the same time, recognize that it’s OK to need help sometimes. After all, life is complicated. Finally, be humble enough to know that there are going to be things in life that will completely blindside us — the things that we don’t even know that we don’t know. Those will be the things that challenge us the most. Learn from it, and it becomes something you know.
