Intellectual Humility - Society’s Silliest Taboo

“I really have come to believe teaching MBAs that one of the most important things you learn as an MBA is how to pretend you know the answer to any question even though you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”* - Freakonomics Author Steve Levitt

I think this quote perfectly captures a phenomenon that represents a huge barrier to learning and developing a growth mindset - failure to exercise intellectual humility. Intellectual humility is knowing one’s own cognitive limits, or put simply, having awareness of what they know and what they do not. It also involves having the courage to say “I don’t know”, even in situations where it seems uncomfortable. While pretending to know and answer, and BSing your way through might feel good, and even gain praise from those in the room initially, in the long term it hardly leads to real benefit. At some point, the “Fake it till you make it” mindset catches up to you, and ultimately you find yourself in a spot where BS fails to suffice - sometimes in situations when it’s too late to fix anything. One would have been much better off admitting to not having an answer, and working to obtain the knowledge, skills, and information before providing an answer. How can organizations elevate and encourage intellectual humility and emphasize the idea that one need not know every answer.