Why is knowledge and perspective so important as a professional, a leader, a parent or just as a person?
I heard this statement earlier today in a mindset video that sums it up beautifully:
“If you knew better, you’d do better.”
Read that again.
It’s very simple, but I think it’s incredibly useful. If you want to be better at anything then find out how to know better. Now that might sound stupidly obvious, but here’s the shift in my thinking that I find working – I ask myself HOW I can find out more.
For example:
If I want to create a more compelling offering for my clients, how can I do better?
Well, this depends on what their needs are and what I can do for them. But, following the principle, if I need to know better in order to do better then what do I need to know?
I need to know (extremely well) what my clients want and need, and how to help them with that.
Ok, so how can I now know that better?
I could read books, watch videos, do an MBA, speak to other entrepreneurs, but truly the best way to “know better” would be to engage in deep dialogue with my clients. If I do that, then surely I’ll be able to do better.
Example 2.
I want to be a better boyfriend. So skipping along the process, I know that I want to know better.
I could do the exact same I might otherwise do like reading books, watching videos, asking for advice etc… but actually, the best thing for me to do is to ask my girlfriend about her needs as an individual and in the relationship.
Now here’s my point across both examples: I’m not listening so I can find out things that I can do better.
I’m just LISTENING.
Once I truly understand the other person’s needs and perspectives – once I truly know BETTER – then I will inevitably figure out ways to do better.
I started this post with the question: “why is knowledge and perspective so important as a professional, a leader, a parent or just as a person?”
The problem is that we spend more time trying to do better than trying to know better. Doing better is important because that’s where the results are. But, knowing better is where we start and where we direct our efforts.
So that’s the lesson I learned today.
If you want to do better, then you need to know better. So go find out.
