Experience is generally considered a good thing. But it can also hold you back. The curse of knowledge, as it is referred to in this month’s Better Business feature by Susan Robertson.
The basic idea is that our natural human tendency is to rely on past knowledge and experience when coming up with solutions to whatever challenges we face. This is indeed useful, but there is a limit to how useful. This experience can also be a barrier to our ability to produce truly new and innovative ideas. As Robertson explains, it can limit our thinking to nothing but slight variations of what already exists. If you have a specific problem you’ve been trying and struggling to solve, a “slight variation” of what you already know is probably not going to get the job done.
This also ties into one of this month’s featured contractors, Lovett Services out of Portland, Oregon. The company is a good example of overcoming the curse of knowledge.
“We don’t do much at Lovett that’s the usual,” says Aaron Sawyer, Lovett’s corporate communications manager.
For example, the company puts a strong emphasis on the Japanese concept of kata for all aspects of its operations. Rooted in martial arts and meaning “way of doing,” it is an approach to improving efficiency by mastering processes through doing things deliberately and repetitively. The ultimate goal is continuous improvement and innovation. Logical when you hear it explained no doubt, but how many company owners in this industry are out there saying, “You know what we need to kick-start business growth? Martial arts principles.”
For Lovett Services, this concept was brought to the company in 2018 with the arrival of a new co-owner from the private-equity industry. That’s a key part of defeating the curse of knowledge: some outside perspective. You only know what you know. If that is also hindering your creative problem-solving, you’re going to have to seek out some alternative sources. It’s not easy, but the first step is consciously challenging the fact that your experience — while valuable — also carries limiting hidden assumptions.
This got me thinking about my own personal experiences. My journey in the sport of running came to mind. I started in middle school and am a satisfied runner to this day, but there was a period when I wasn’t enjoying it and couldn’t keep it up consistently. I eventually came to realize that the problem was that I remained too wrapped up in the past experience of my middle and high school running career. I let go of what wasn’t working, opened myself up to some new ideas (in some cases the exact opposite of what I was coached in school), and rediscovered my joy of running.
I encourage you to do the same and think about how this “curse of knowledge” may be holding you back, in either your personal life or with your business. What can you do to circumvent it, think more creatively and get some new ideas and solutions flowing?
Enjoy this month’s issue.
