THEPULSEON… COMPETENCE

The Dunning-Krueger effect is one of the most paralysing effects on a person’s life. And it can affect anyone. This effect is a bias that comes as a form of an illusion, where the person affected by it tends to think that he is superior in a certain ability when in actual fact, he is below par. It becomes even more dangerous when someone operating under this bias acts in a management or leadership capacity that affects the lives of many others, especially when we think of repercussions in domino/ripple effect terms, unintended consequences, and so forth. Therein lies the question of how we can effectively rid ourselves of this bias before it becomes too pronounced, and the weight of the consequences too heavy to bear. Some have surrounded themselves with competent, smart people in the hope of cancelling their weaknesses through them. While this is an excellent approach, it might just work only if we know what we don’t know. However, this bias lies also in unconscious incompetence – we don’t know what we don’t know, and think we do know it well enough. Perhaps it would be apt at this juncture to quote Martin Luther King, Jr. that “nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity”. Indeed, the consequences of unconscious stupidity can be far more damaging. It all boils down to humility and honor, two fundamental traits that we commonly ignore. In a world that celebrates the self-made man and idolizes the heroes of stellar successes, we may just be missing out on the subtleties that made them all happen. When we think Apple, we immediately attribute success to Steve Jobs and almost immediately, forget the hundreds of people on his team who made it all possible. Ditto Alibaba-Jack Ma. Ditto Tesla-Elon Musk. It is only when we begin to look at ourselves and realize the finiteness of our beings, our cognitive limitations, the insufficiency of our personal abilities that we now develop an empathetic humility. This critical ability places us on a better trajectory because we now look to honouring others because each person represents possibly complementing gifts and abilities, the very ones that we solely lack and could not possibly know ourselves until we connect with them. We live in a hyperconnected world, and it is the technologies in this digital age that flatten out how we connect with one another. This double-edged sword would mean that our incompetence and competence alike get magnified and most definitely publicized in a rapid manner. Perhaps we can begin with, firstly, defining the scope of our objectives, what we hope to accomplish. Then tap on our primary and secondary networks, and even beyond, to bring in those who know better about what we don’t. As they bring their knowledge and expertise to bear, we need to humbly articulate our limitations and honor what they bring to the table. This places us as students at the feet of one who is greater at what he does than what we can do. Then ask. Ask away in a Socratic fashion. In this safe platform, ignorance can be displayed and shifted from the unconscious to the conscious. An active learning takes place, and you leave the exchange empowered. To deal with our Dunning-Kruegers, we need the twin engines of humility and honor. No man is an island, and the self-made person of success is a myth. We all need a paradigm shift in perspective.