Self-Awareness and The Curse of Knowledge

January 24, 2007 by Mary Wynne-Wynter 

There’s a lot of recent good discussion about how knowledge can be detrimental to communication. But its just the tip of the iceberg. The more we are attached to, and identified with, our accumulated mental and psychological content, the more we become exclusive when we need to be inclusive.

The teachings of Eckhart Tolle and Don Ruiz helped me be more self-aware about my voice of knowledge and led me to integrate knowledge awareness in change facilitation.

The Curse of Knowledge: “

Chip and Dan Heath were recently interviewed by Guy Kawasaki about their book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. There’s an interesting part where they discuss ‘the Curse of Knowledge.’

And that brings us to the villain of our book: The Curse of Knowledge. Lots of research in economics and psychology shows that when we know something, it becomes hard for us to imagine not knowing it. As a result, we become lousy communicators. Think of a lawyer who can’t give you a straight, comprehensible answer to a legal question. His vast knowledge and experience renders him unable to fathom how little you know. So when he talks to you, he talks in abstractions that you can’t follow. And we’re all like the lawyer in our own domain of expertise.

(Via Signal vs. Noise.)

Filed under: Consciousness, career, going solo
Tagged:
Comments: None