Monday, June 3, 2013

Why ask the Ignorant?

It has been three months since I showed up at the door step of a place of employment.  Do I miss it?  No.  Do I miss the people? Sure.

During this time we have taken on many important projects, events, trips and tasks.  Now that I have a bit more time, each of these start with a research phase.  “Dr. Google” knows everything and everyone. This allows access to the people that have solved the problem before.  For the same reason each of us add value in our professions, it is the expertise we each have that makes us valuable in the workforce.

If this is true, then why is it that so many people get their advice outside of work from family, friends and neighbors.  We ask the “ignorant” important questions that have long term impacts on our lives.  PLEASE do not be confused.  Ignorant does not indicate a lack of intelligence!  It simply means “unknowing.”  We all can’t know everything.  Many of my current questions have to do with next careers, finance and risk management.  I’m locating and talking to the experts that have proven track records.  People like to share and help those that come behind them.  They are mentoring just as we have done.

Do you seek out the best to answer your questions? 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Excellent advice, John..... But Dr. Google doesn't always have the "right" answer either. Sometimes better answers come from our friends and family who know, understand and love us and can couch their good advice based on those relationships..... Thanks!

Anonymous said...

It is true! Ignorance really is bliss.

C Webb said...

Great Post.
My wife and I were forced to move 2500 miles from everyone we knew about 6 years ago. It was the best thing that could have happen to us. We were forced to lean on each other and those around us for advice. It was funny to here complete stranger say things like "i am not sure, maybe you should try BLANK." Because in several instances when they came back to us with a problem they had with someone in their own family, they said something different. Typically "what they should do is BLANK, because I know what will happen." These people when they thought they were strangers to us offered different advice then they offered those close to them. It is interesting that intelligent people can often times be just as ignorant on the very same subjects.

What this made me think of is all of our friends and family back east. Some have been married several times in the time that My wife and I have been together, just over 5 years. I began to see a pattern emerge, husband and wife are upset and they go to lifelong friends and family to discuss it. Lifelong friends and family give horrible advice, typically based on experience and not research or moral principles, and this sets in motion the feeling that the spouse just "doesn't get me." After a few more problems and few more positive responses from lifelong friends and family, the spouses begin to drift apart and claim that they cannot communicate with each other.

Many of those people are highly educated and often times truly in their hearts believing that they are looking out for the best interest of the husband or the wife. However what plays out is ignorant advice because they truly do not know the situation that the husband and wife are going through.

Great post, very thought provoking.

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