Posted by Nancy Grossbart
Years ago I was visiting with the wisest person I know where I met this amazing man. He was a doctor, a lawyer, a Julliard educated violinist and an artist. Later, my wise friend asked me if I thought having all these achievements was a blessing or a curse. Of course, I said it was "a blessing." It seemed to me to be the epitome of a "successful life." But was it, really?
It turned out that with all this achievement, all this knowledge, his life was really miserable. It was one of those mind-opening experiences where you realize that what you think you see is not what is really happening.
Over the weekend, I was reading a Harvard Business blog by Scott Anthony about How Knowledge Can Hurt Innovation which brought me back the story of this man. Anthony describes a basic problem in product innovation as:
"Managers who have spent their entire lives working in an industry often suffer from the curse of knowledge. ...This curse can blind managers to opportunities and threats."
Obviously, I saw the parallels and thought about this man who I had only met that one day. I wondered if he ever grew, which seemed like a strange thought. I realized that this can happen to anyone of us if we don't continue to create "open spaces" in our lives for growth.
Anthony goes on to say:
How do you break free from the curse of knowledge? Spending a lot of time with customers helps. The more you listen to what the customer says and doesn't say, the more you can make sure that your intuition is attuned to the customer's knowledge base. Recognizing the curse helps as well. Make a regular habit of asking questions such as, "Is this our view, or the view of our target customer?"
No matter what your age, no matter how many years of experience you have in a particular field, you need to remind yourself every day that it is possible you know very little. That humility will help ensure you are ready to recognize that next great innovative idea.
As Anthony concludes:
Don't let your own knowledge blind you to threats and opportunities.
It's good advice for product innovation in business. Maybe even better advice for innovation in your personal life.
