I’ve watched management teams “pool their ignorance” for decades. Eight smart people sitting around a table, each hoping someone else knows the answer they don’t have.
The result? Decisions based on collective assumptions rather than actual data.
Here’s what I learned after sitting through hundreds of board meetings: The person who speaks with the most confidence isn’t always the person who knows the most.
How to avoid pooling ignorance:
Before the meeting:
Assign specific research. One person owns customer data. Another owns competitive analysis. Someone else brings financial projections. No one shows up empty-handed.
During discussion:
Start with facts, not opinions. “What do we know for certain?” comes before “What do we think might work?”
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Challenge assumptions:
When someone says “customers want this,” ask “which customers?” When they say “the market is moving toward,” ask “based on what data?”
Embrace ignorance:
The most valuable words in any management meeting are “I don’t know, but I can find out by Friday.”
The companies that scale fastest aren’t the ones with the smartest people. They’re the ones that gather the smartest data.
Enthusiasm without information is just expensive guessing.
And guessing, no matter how passionate, doesn’t pay the bills.
