I recently came across this challenging little sentence in an article by Luc Gallopin:
“As far as mastering today’s world is concerned I think we would be better off with the skill of ‘not knowing’ or ‘ignorance’.”
Well, that got the grey cells active! In this age when we are exhorted to set goals for everything from when we will reach millionaire status to what time we will spend with the kids each day, surely ‘not knowing’ has no place? Perhaps this idea of knowing what we want to happen is especially prevalent at this time of year when those New Year’s Resolutions come out again – goals for the next year.
You might, by now, expect me to have a slightly different take on goals! Oh, I do not deny that they have their place – how else would we know what to buy at the supermarket if we did not set out to get butter, milk, bread etc? (actually I very rarely take a list as I like to be guided by what takes my fancy as I wander around), how could we be certain of submitting that report on time if we did not know ‘when’ the right time was, etc.
I want to put a case for not knowing, for leaving things to just happen; and I want to preface it by asking you to think about those great things that might have happened to you when you did not have a SMART goal – falling in love, watching that spectacular sunset, learning to walk or talk (interesting how much children manage to learn/do without even a mental concept of ‘goal’). Just imagine setting the goal “By 23rd February 2013 I will have fallen in love with a 5’10” blonde Australian woman”, how ridiculous (even though it might be aspirational!).
But ‘not knowing’ is subtly different to not having goals, after all Columbus set off to discover the East Indies (his goal) without having much idea of where or how he could find them perhaps that’s what enabled him to find the Americas instead. He clearly subscribed to the apocryphal quotation:
You cannot discover new oceans unless you are willing to lose sight of the shore.
Losing sight of the shore involves being prepared to give up foreknowledge. Yes, you might have some idea of what you want to achieve, but be prepared for stuff to just happen and take advantage of happenings. We cannot know the future, so all we can really do is set off into the void with some generalised desired outcomes and be prepared for whatever happens.
In my book THAT is the essence of great leadership; having the humility to acknowledge that you do not know, the passion to achieve something and the wisdom to recognise and use whatever opportunities come your way. Good leaders are comfortable being uncomfortable.