If I Know, I "No" ... If I Don't Know, I "Yes"

I was recently given the privilege of working in a training environment where old school philosophies were being challenged by new school tactics. The old school culture won out.

It was fascinating to watch the clashes and chaos as old school could not comprehend or navigate within the new school opportunities. It was as if two languages were being spoken and no common ground could be found.

Within the ranks of the training group were many strong and capable visionaries who were invited in to transform the existing situation. Then, in mid-stream, they were pretty much "bound and gagged" as if they were enemies. Suddenly the highly capable were being fired and sent home with polite thanks, while the incompetent and the weak were herded off to be absorbed into the old school way of thinking. It was as if the powers-to-be believed they had won by converting a few newbies to their droning resistance. I guess the person in managerial power immediately above the process perceived the chaos as a threat and swept the table clean of its examinations, issues, and solutions. Isn't it interesting when ignorance overcomes curiosity and exploration?

I take a bit of pride and solace in knowing I was one of the many who were fired for being too willing to help improve things. It was amazing to watch the verve and zeal of a dozen leaders, the cream of the crop, be let go in favor of lemmings. Why does corporate America prefer the comfort of traditional thinking instead of the profitability and organizational strength of advancements beyond their comprehension? We were all so dedicated and committed to creating a huge victory for all involved, and yet, we did not fit their way of dysfunction.

Is preferred dysfunction a real force, or is it simply ignorance that wields its deceptive veil across the eyes of those with power? If given a day, any one of us could have aligned the resources, formed a plan, clarified the content, strategized the delivery, and set the process right. But, those who do not know, and will not look, are scared of being seen as incompetent, so they run head long into walls and prove it.

I chuckle at my freedom from the anxiety, but I also grieve the loss of what could have been accomplished. Why are people so afraid to learn?  Is it because they were raised in schools of “being corrected”, of being forced to memorize someone else’s ideas instead of exploring their own?  As a society we are paralyzed by the fear of being wrong, of being embarrassed for not knowing something, and of being compared to someone else.  Do we not realize that no one knows everything and as a whole we can build a greater library of knowledge between us?  We never learned how to value our own curiosity, our own ability to explore, and our own sovereign right to be different, interested in different lessons, and having something unique to offer.  If we had… we might be more comfortable with other people offering something else, believing something different, knowing something different from what we know, and we might even be comfortable with trying to explore and learn by being open to new knowledge.  Who knows?

Isn't it interesting that we learn from a motivation of knowing more, and yet many organizations support a culture that only values what you already know?  How can a culture that wants to increase its knowledge – which requires admitting it doesn't know as much as it needs to – simultaneously profess and bully based on how much it does know? 

When we get real honest, everyone would have to admit there is a lot more we don't know than what we do know.  The prosperous journey of gaining more knowledge begins with the confession, "I don't know."   To say, "I don't know," isn't the death knell of progress.  The key part is what comes right after.  Is the next statement "And... I don't want to know" or is it "I want to know more"?

If I say "I know" and mean "I know enough" I am really saying, "No" to the next bits of knowledge that may pass my way.  I am saying "No" to the very process of receiving, let alone seeking, new knowledge.  This is a closed mind.  The bosses of the training group I was fired from were closed-minded.  They were afraid to learn.  Think of that.  People who were in charge of a learning process were opposed to learning themselves.  There is no cure for an internal source of such poison.  A learning culture must disrupt the closed mind foundations that prevent it from moving forward.  The frozen river must be thawed so it may flow and churn.

When I say "I don't know" I follow it up - not with embarrassment - but with intrigue.  I am intrigued with what I may have missed, what may have kept me from knowing, and most important, "How can I now gain what I did not have?"  I follow my "I don't know" with a "Yes" to the filling of my void, the erasing of my ignorance, the progression of my mind.  Is that not my responsibility?  What more responsible choice could I make?

Leaders in education need to be the most interested learners we have on the planet.

They need to seek training in heavy mining machinery to move this mountain forward faster and faster.