Opportunity and The Curse of Knowledge

 



If you know how to create opportunities you may not be able to properly describe what has happened in the process. This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as "the curse of knowledge."


Example: Parents asked children to write detailed instructions on how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The parents followed the instructions verbatim. What happens is a hilarious miscommunication of the task by the parents. Jelly spread onto hands and peanut butter spread on counter tops. Because it feels so natural to go through the actions that the description seems too intuitive to explain.  


The example of writing instructions for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich humorously illustrates the challenge of translating intuitive actions into precise, communicable steps. In this scenario, the parents, following the instructions literally, might encounter unexpected outcomes because the implicit knowledge involved in making a sandwich is not fully captured in the written instructions.


When looking at creating opportunity for ourselves we need to realize that there are many people that do not know how to do it and the ones that do may not even understand what they do as they have been doing it instinctively.


We each must look at the opportunities that we want to create as problems to study and understand. As the instructions that are out there may not be as intuitive as they seem to those that have traversed those roads. 


In my work, I want to increase sales by 30% annually. That should be possible. The population to create the opportunities/sales are there. I have the time. But I don’t know how to translate the want into action. I know what I need. I need referrals and increased personal brand awareness. This is where the opportunity meets wants and action and where the road gets muddy. 

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