Significant learning comes from being wrong

I talk a lot on here about being wrong, and if you read much of what I write you probably have seen some times when I’ve literally been wrong. Thinking through ideas in public like this can lead to that, and I’m ok with it.

Part of this comes from Daniel Kahneman’s idea of being wrong making me “ less wrong than I was before “. My friends and colleagues know this about me, and they’re quick to let me know when I’m wrong. Ideally that will happen less frequently over time, but it doesn’t seem to be slowing…

When reading David C. Baker’s excellent book “ Secret Tradecraft of Elite Advisors “, he explains it this way:

“I need to not shy away from what I’m pretty darn sure is true from a lot of research and a lot of experience, but I need to leave the door open for being wrong here because every time I’ve learned something significant, it’s been because I’ve been wrong and I’ve had an assumption that turned out not to be true.”

If you believe something to be true, don’t be afraid to share it. However, if it turns out that you were wrong, don’t be afraid to accept that as well. That second part can be much more difficult to do, but it’s where real growth and knowledge comes from.

Originally published at https://www.mickmel.com on March 23, 2023.