Once, I was a guest at a scientist’s house. Other guests were art critics, sociologists, and PhDs.
One of them mentioned the “Barbizon school of painting.” Someone else asked him what it was.
He rolled his eyes and exclaimed, “Even a five-year-old knows what the Barbizon school is!”
The “curse of knowledge” is a cognitive bias. It makes it hard for an expert to see the world from the perspective of a novice.
– PMs assume everyone knows how to use their products’ features,
– Finance experts can’t imagine someone not understanding a balance sheet,
– Leaders believe their strategic ideas magically spread through the air across their organizations, like viruses.
Once you know something, it’s hard to imagine that others don’t.
Only those who can overcome the bias can become extraordinary leaders.
Svyatoslav Biryulin
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Check out my new book, Red and Yellow Strategies: Flip Your Strategic Thinking and Overcome Short-termism, here.
