George B. Thomas argues that leaders and employees need the courage to say "I don't know" and ask for help. Admitting uncertainty builds trust and stronger teams, but most workplaces punish honesty instead of rewarding it.
It's all about courage. Real, genuine courage. Which, by the way, earlier this week we did a beyond your default podcast episode on bravery and talked about bravery and, like, courage and how those kind of work together. The reason I'm bringing up courage is because most organizations, you might not be able to do what I'm about to say, and I fully realize that. But it's about having the guts to. To admit when you're wrong, have the guts to ask for help, or again, have the guts to say, I don't know. Those are some of the three scariest words you can say depending on what type of organization you work at. Because I don't know. Can come with a level of judgment that feels like God's wrath. And you're like, but I wasn't finished. I can find out. This culture we live in where everybody thinks we have to have the immediate answer and that we can't take time to figure it out. Like, humility understands. Like, oh, it's okay for me to say that.
