Intellectual humility seems to be in short supply these days.
We all like to think of ourselves as being smart, and we rarely want to admit we don’t know something.
We’re concerned about appearing weak or lacking confidence. We don’t want to be a pushover. We want to be right.
But intellectual humility is really about being honest with ourselves that we all have cognitive blind spots. We don’t know it all and there’s no way we possibly can.
When we act like we do know it all, we lose a valuable opportunity to learn, grow – and solve important problems.
Warren Berger is a self-proclaimed “questionologist” and is the author of “The Book of Beautiful Questions.”
Through his research and writing he’s come up with four questions to test for, and inspire, intellectual humility:
- Do I think more like a soldier or a scout? Soldiers defend positions, scouts explore new territory.
- Would I rather be right, or would I rather understand? Long-term knowledge is much more valuable than a short-term win.
- Do I seek out opposing views? Do I say “don’t you agree?” or do I say “tell me if you disagree and tell me why.”
- Do I enjoy the surprise of discovering I’m mistaken? Being wrong isn’t a failure! It’s a success because you’ve just learned something new.
What you don’t know can help you immensely. Practicing intellectual humility will help realize it.
Have a great week.
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