The Dunning-Kruger Prayer

Adam Grant is an American psychologist and author who currently serves as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He recently released a book titled, “Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know,” that encourages us to question our existing opinions.

“The less intelligent we are in a particular domain, the more we seem to overestimate our actual intelligence in that domain,” Grant writes.

This is what’s called the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect, named after social psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger, is a type of cognitive bias in which people believe that they are smarter and more capable than they actually are. This isn’t always a bad quality, but it’s one we’d be wise to spend some time reflecting on. Knowing what not to do is as often important as knowing what we can do.

Grant’s writing explores our traditional beliefs with some hardened views. He believes that we put too much weight on the perspectives that make us feel good instead of the ones that make us think a little harder.   

As we enjoy an extra day off on this Presidents’ Day, let’s spend some time reviewing our professional lives and focus on the areas where we might not be strong or don’t know as much as we think as we think we should. Let’s be completely honest and list some of our shortcomings, then work on finding people who can help guide us to improve in these specific areas. 

The first step toward answering the Dunning-Kruger Prayer is admitting that we don’t know. Today is as good a time as any to begin that journey.