What if expertise gets in the way?

If your job expects you to have answers, this might make you wait a little longer before giving one.

The more experienced we become, the easier it is to confuse what we know with what is true. We often recognise a problem, reach for what we've seen before and move quickly towards an answer.

My conversation with Helen Hannan Evans made me wonder what we miss when we do that.

Helen calls the alternative "deconditioned thinking". Recognising that everything we hear passes through what we already know. Where we grew up, what we were taught, our experience and our expertise all shape what we notice.

So sometimes, before answering, we need to interrupt ourselves. And often it's as simple as reminding ourselves to wait a minute and ask, "Is that actually true?"

Helen and I talked about listening, AI, experience, innovation and the danger of knowing so much that we stop seeing what is right in front of us.

Then, towards the end, I asked her to complete a sentence.

“Today I place myself…”

She paused.

“I don’t know. Let me think about it.”

It was a podcast. She was the guest. I had asked the question. She was supposed to have an answer.

So many of us would have found one. Filled the silence, said something plausible and performed certainty.

Helen didn’t.

She waited until she knew what she wanted to say.

It struck me afterwards that she hadn't just spent our conversation talking about listening. She had shown me what it looks like by resisting the first answer, making room for what you don't yet know and listening not only to someone else, but to yourself.

Maybe that’s the real question.

Can you wait long enough to hear what you actually think?

A new episode of Where We Place Ourselves is out now.

Learn more about Helen's work here: About - We build brands from the inside out | The Listening People