This past weekend, a thought-provoking lyric surfaced on my social media feed, pulled from Disney’s Pocahontas, specifically the song “Colours of the Wind.” It was shared in connection with the vital Black Lives Matter and BIPOC movement:
“You think the only people who are people Are the people who look and think like you But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger You’ll learn things you never knew, you never knew”
While all of the lyrics are impactful, it was the closing phrase, “you never knew, you never knew,” that resonated deeply. It immediately brought to mind the Knowledge Matrix, a concept I encountered during my time as a marketing and insights consultant at Sklar Wilton & Associates. This matrix brilliantly illustrates what it means to not know what you don’t know, a concept that is crucial for personal and professional growth. Often, we are limited not just by what we don’t know, but by our very lack of awareness of these knowledge gaps – the feeling of “I don’t know why I don’t know” can be a significant barrier.
Deconstructing the Knowledge Matrix
This insightful 2×2 model maps knowledge against our awareness of that knowledge. It helps categorize the different states of knowing and not knowing.
Here’s a representation of the Knowledge Matrix:
A Knowledge Matrix diagram illustrating four quadrants: “Known Knowns” (Conscious Competence), “Known Unknowns” (Conscious Incompetence), “Unknown Knowns” (Unconscious Competence), and “Unknown Unknowns” (Unconscious Incompetence), highlighting the levels of knowledge and awareness.
While the exact origin of this model is debated, it is notably used by organizations like NASA and finds applications across diverse fields from defense and politics to strategic planning and leadership. The ancient philosopher Socrates also touched upon similar ideas in his pursuit of wisdom. He believed true wisdom wasn’t just about having knowledge, but about understanding the boundaries of one’s own knowledge. A truly wise individual, according to Socrates, is not necessarily the one who knows the most, but rather someone who is acutely aware of what they know and, more importantly, what they don’t know. This awareness fosters a sense of curiosity and openness to learning, moving beyond the limitations of “I don’t know why I don’t know” to a proactive seeking of knowledge.
This matrix offers valuable insights applicable to both our personal and professional lives. Let’s explore its relevance in a professional context.
Applying the Knowledge Matrix in the Professional World
In professional settings, individuals are generally comfortable operating within the realm of what they know that they know. This is the domain of conscious competence.
- For example, a company confidently states, “We know we excel at widget manufacturing, surpassing our competitors in quality and efficiency.”
Many are also adept at addressing things they know they don’t know. This is conscious incompetence – recognizing a gap in knowledge and taking steps to fill it.
- Consider a scenario where a business acknowledges, “We know we lack expertise in efficient widget distribution to our buyers.” To overcome this known unknown, they strategically partner with a specialized distribution firm.
However, the category of what they don’t know that they know presents a more subtle dynamic. These are areas of unconscious competence, where knowledge is tacit or taken for granted. Awareness often arises when interacting with someone who doesn’t share this implicit knowledge. Have you ever experienced explaining a seemingly simple concept to a newcomer in your field, only to realize the depth of your own unspoken understanding? This is when the “I don’t know why I don’t know” feeling shifts, as you become conscious of previously unarticulated knowledge.
Here are practical examples of why recognizing this category is crucial:
- Advertising and Communication: When crafting advertising campaigns, avoid assuming your target audience inherently understands your industry jargon or internal knowledge. At Upwords, we frequently optimize client communications, highlighting instances where target audiences misinterpreted intended messages due to assumed shared knowledge. It’s a common pitfall to operate within our “unknown knowns” and forget that our audience might be in the “unknown unknowns” regarding our product or service.
- Public Speaking and Presentations: Before presenting to diverse audiences, assess their level of familiarity with your subject matter. Tailor your language and depth of information to avoid speaking above their heads and losing their engagement. Failing to bridge this knowledge gap can lead to the audience feeling, “I don’t know why I don’t know what they are talking about,” hindering effective communication.
- Market Research: In survey design, carefully consider the language used in questions. Avoid acronyms, industry-specific terms, or phrasing that might be unclear to the average respondent. Even if terms seem “obvious” to you, clarity is paramount. Misunderstood questions yield meaningless data. Respondents might answer based on their own interpretation, leading to inaccurate insights because of the researchers’ “unknown knowns” overshadowing the respondents’ potential “unknown unknowns.”
Navigating the “I Don’t Know Why I Don’t Know”: The Realm of Unknown Unknowns
The final quadrant, what you don’t know you don’t know, is often the most intriguing and challenging. Famously termed “unknown unknowns” by Donald Rumsfeld in 2002, these represent our blind spots – areas of ignorance we aren’t even aware of. This is where the feeling of “I don’t know why I don’t know” is most pronounced, as we are completely unaware of the missing knowledge.
In research, particularly exploratory research, this quadrant is a goldmine for breakthrough insights. It’s the space that fuels truly original thinking and pushes us beyond conventional boundaries. However, it’s also the most difficult area to plan for. We tend to formulate research questions based on our existing knowledge, yet the most transformative discoveries often emerge unexpectedly when qualitative researchers deviate from rigid scripts to explore unforeseen tangents. Uncovering these “unknown unknowns” requires embracing the discomfort of “I don’t know why I don’t know” and venturing into uncharted intellectual territory.
Key Takeaways: Learning from the Knowledge Matrix
The most crucial takeaway from the Knowledge Matrix is the realization that “I don’t know why I don’t know” applies to virtually everything, to some degree. We all have blind spots, and acknowledging this is the first step towards growth.
This awareness encourages us to cultivate essential habits:
- Embrace Curiosity: Maintain a perpetual state of inquiry. Ask open-ended questions that encourage exploration and deeper understanding.
- Practice Observational Skills: Observe situations without immediate judgment or preconceived notions. Seek to understand before evaluating.
- Challenge Assumptions: Actively question your own assumptions and the assumptions of others. What seems “obvious” might be a reflection of your “unknown knowns,” masking potential “unknown unknowns.”
- Cultivate Comfort with Ambiguity: Embrace uncertainty and resist the urge for premature closure. The “unknown unknowns” often reside in ambiguous spaces.
- Prioritize Diverse Perspectives: Actively seek out and value diverse viewpoints. Different backgrounds and experiences illuminate blind spots and expose “unknown unknowns” that might be invisible from a limited perspective.
Diversity as a Catalyst for Unveiling “I Don’t Know Why I Don’t Know”
The final point about diversity deserves particular attention. The beauty is that what is an “unknown unknown” for you is very likely a “known known” or at least a “known unknown” for someone else with a different background or experience. This is why diverse teams and inclusive research methodologies are so powerful.
This translates to concrete actions:
- Build Diverse Teams: Actively foster diversity within your teams. A broader range of perspectives increases the likelihood of identifying new opportunities, anticipating challenges, and uncovering “unknown unknowns” that a homogenous team might miss.
- Conduct Inclusive Research: Ensure your research samples are diverse and include voices from the margins and fringes. These often-overlooked perspectives can reveal rich insights and expose critical blind spots, transforming “I don’t know why I don’t know” into valuable knowledge.
And so, circling back to where we began, the Pocahontas lyric beautifully encapsulates the essence of the Knowledge Matrix and the importance of diversity in overcoming the limitations of “I don’t know why I don’t know”:
“You think the only people who are people Are the people who look and think like you But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger You’ll learn things you never knew, you never knew”
What instances come to mind where you gained profound insights by uncovering something you “never knew you never knew”?
