I Don’t Know

Gary Burnison is CEO of Korn Ferry and the author of Love, Hope & Leadership: A Special Edition.

I’ll never forget the date: September 4^th—just a few months after I graduated from university. There I was, in my shiny new shoes, carrying a hard-sided briefcase—completely empty, of course, except for a few pencils and a blank legal pad… I’m still not sure what that combination lock on the briefcase was for.

So began the first day of my professional life—all roads leading to this seminal moment: college, countless hours of study, numerous exams, licensing tests, and other obstacles along the way. I walked through that heavy oak door of KPMG and met the other 100 or so new hires.

Amid the excitement and anticipation, a bit of bravado and true nervousness that filled the air that day, all of us had one thing in common… We had no idea.

Sure, we had learned about finance, acquisitions, restructurings, and more. But that was theory. Our reality—and path to corporate enlightenment—started with moving office furniture and equipment and carrying boxes floor to floor in our best business attire.

It was humbling, to say the least. And a lesson for all of us—we don’t know what we don’t know.

With time, many in that class of new hires went on to do amazing things in their careers. But it started with a realization and a reckoning that learning comes through humility and understanding. And sometimes that understanding comes through the admission that we simply don’t have all the answers, all the time.

It seems leaders are expected to have the answers—on call, for every moment. And of course, always right. But perhaps these three simple words—“I Don’t Know”—as counterintuitive as they may seem, are a refreshing, relatable, and authentic response. And the more authentic, the more others can trust what we say and believe in what we do.

Perhaps acknowledging what we don’t know is a lost art.

Admittedly, it’s not a phrase for all seasons. There are those leadership moments—such as a crisis, when people want decisiveness and direction and it needs to come from the leader. But, as our firm’s experts observe, far more common are learning moments—those invaluable opportunities to engage and empower others to find blue sky.

A case in point—the question I’ve been hearing for months. “What are your thoughts about AI and where is it going?” My answer: “I don’t know”—quickly followed by, “But I do want to instill a culture of curiosity so we can find out, together.”

Here are a few thoughts to consider for making “I Don’t Know” part of your leadership lexicon and creating a learning environment that cultivates collective genius.

Listen—to educate our intuition, especially about what we don’t know. It’s taking inventory across the organization—and it begins with being less of a title and more of a person. Less vertical, more horizontal. Less charismatic, more authentic. Less hearing, more understanding … to accurately perceive today to project tomorrow.

Learn—to improve ourselves first, so we can improve our organizations. From what our firm is hearing, a shift is taking place as leaders of even some of the biggest companies are trading “all-knowing” for “all-curious.” No more posturing about being the “smartest one in the room,” pretending to have the answers—never in doubt (and almost always wrong). Instead, it’s all about becoming more learning agile—or, as I call it, knowing what to do when we don’t know what to do.

Lead—with confidence. People often confuse confidence with arrogance, but it’s actually the opposite. It takes a grounded ego and more than a little courage for leaders to admit “I don’t know … but let’s figure it out together.” It’s refreshing and relatable, offering a strong expression of realness and trust in others.

What matters most is not always having the answers. Far more important is asking the right questions.

And it all starts with a humble phrase that contains a world of wisdom.

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