I recently attended a conference at which Richard Saul Wurman, the founder of TED, gave the keynote talk. I feel like I could write a year’s worth of Mind Mints based on the ideas in his presentation (available here and worth a look).

My favorite quote from his talk was this: “You have a limited repertoire when you sell your expertise. I sell my ignorance; I have an unlimited repertoire.”

 

What a concept! Many of us work hard to position ourselves as subject matter experts, and to project the impression on any given assignment that we “get it.” That’s what makes clients and colleagues feel most comfortable.

After hearing Wurman’s talk, I’m intrigued by the idea of attacking problems from a stance of ignorance. Admitting (at least to ourselves) that perhaps we don’t completely “get it” might be a good first step on the path to finding truly novel solutions.