Have you heard the expression “you don’t know what you don’t know”?
Coined by Donald Rumsfeld in discussion about national security, this is an interesting concept for any battle field, including the competitive landscape that is our marketplace and business.
How well do you understand the knowledge which you have, and the knowledge which you don’t have? Let’s break it down into 4 definitions:
1. Known-Knowns – this is everything you’ve learned, the knowledge you’ve accumulated over the years and you know you know it. It’s logged in your brain and you draw on it daily. It’s your expertise which helps you make decisions and visualise outcomes when you’re finding solutions for challenges.
2. Unknown–knowns – this includes all the untapped intel which you haven’t learned yet. It’s like a subject you haven’t studied, you’re aware that there’s a gap in your knowledge and you also know that the information is out there, it’s just not your area of expertise. Perhaps you have an expert on the team to cover this off.
3. Known–unknowns – here’s where you need to pay attention. Revolutions and breakthroughs in medical science are born from known-unknowns. It is information which you know exists but you haven’t come across it yet. Every Google search is a known-unknown, you know there’s information out there but you haven’t found it. These are the risks to your business which you could plan to mitigate.
4. Unknown–unknowns – this is the scary stuff. These are the “unprecedented times”. No one could predict this, it’s so far out there, we haven’t even thought about it. It’s more off the scale than a Hollywood movie script, you couldn’t make it up. And that’s the point, we don’t even know we don’t know it, it’s never been considered.
So if we scale this back and apply it to our business world, how can we overcome the risks of our lack of knowledge? Actively seeking out knowledge to bridge that gap is a great place to start, acknowledging the existence of known-unknowns and recognising the people who harvest your unknown-knowns.
As business coaches, we often meet clients with a list of burning questions. Brand new and well established business owners alike often feel like there’s just so much to learn it’s overwhelming. They can get a bit stuck in the unknowns and forget to embrace what they already do. Seeking out knowledge by asking questions will certainly help minimise risks to your business by giving you new information which you can use to help guide you. But a Q&A session will only give you so much if you are only asking for specific answers to specific questions.
That is why it is so important is to surround yourself with opportunities to tap into the unknowns. Listen out today for expressions from people around you such as “oh I didn’t even know that was possible!”. Start spending more time in the company of experts and look to them to answer the questions you didn’t even know you needed to ask. This is how you can grow your business safely, by using the knowledge all around you, regardless of who’s head it’s in!
