Some mornings when I’m getting ready for work, inspiration for a blog post hits me so I send myself a brief outline of the idea. This morning I was thinking about how it’s impossible to always know what to do or to have the answer ready when someone comes asking questions. Some bosses try to fake their way through the conversation. That’s the wrong way of course. The right way is to say “I don’t know, but here’s what we can do to find out…” or something along those lines.
It turns out this approach is backed up by recent research from Stanford confirms that “the less assured expert prompted higher ratings than the certain expert.”
By the way, this was the snippet that I emailed myself. The thought was about how you should be open to new ideas and ways of working.
The boss doesn’t always know what’s best and that’s a good thing. Progress is made with new ideas and new initiatives. This requires new thinking. Always keep an open mind to suggestions because that one idea you’re so adamantly against just might be the next big thing for your company.
Net, net, what I’m saying is that you shouldn’t be expected to have all the answers, all the time – and you’ll actually achieve more because you don’t know everything. That was the first part of my post.
The thought I had this morning centered on the fact that you should be open to new ideas and ways of doing things. Your direct reports will respect you more, be more fully engaged with their work and you’ll accomplish more as a team. That’s pretty cool stuff, all because you have the humility and confidence in yourself to be okay with not knowing all the answers, all the time.
Side Note: In searching for the answers, you never know the fun and interesting stuff you’ll come across, learn and use from this point forward in your life. Now that’s really cool, don’t you think? Learn, explore, delegate, have fun, empower others, all because you said the simple phrase “I don’t know.”
Fabio Marciano is an accomplished author and runs the popular blog Cubicle Millionaire. He is dedicated to radically changing people's lives first through their finances and their work. He frequently writes about a variety of topics, namely getting ahead at your full-time job, doing great work, losing weight and getting in shape, creating a second income, how to plan for the future and how to be more productive (to name a few topics). 
