<p>I just checked a website and saw a quote stuck in the home page that to me, had no relation to what the website was about, or at least I couldn’t make the connection. It seems everyone these days is using the saying, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” I call this DKDK. I became aware of this term during sales training many years ago and it struck a chord with me as it relates to the psychology of sales. Frankly, I think a lot of people throw this term around without even giving it much thought. “Hey, Charlie, you don’t know what you don’t know. Know what I mean?” Ummm, not really….<br><br>I’ll try to put DKDK into context for sales and review the other three quadrants as I know them. By the way, if any of my readers have input for this, let me know. After all, this is about sharing and increasing our collective knowledge!<br></p><p>First, let’s take a look at knowledge- the dictionary definition, culled from Wikipedia. Knowledge is defined (Oxford English Dictionary) variously as:</p><ul><li>expertise, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education;</li><li>the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject,</li><li>what is known in a particular field or in total;</li><li>known facts and information or</li><li>awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation.</li></ul><p>Philosophical debates in general start with Plato's formulation of knowledge as "justified true belief". There is however no single agreed definition of knowledge presently, nor any prospect of one, and there remain numerous competing theories.<br>Knowledge acquisition involves complex cognitive processes: perception, learning, communication, association and reasoning. The term knowledge is also used to mean the confident understanding of a subject with the ability to use it for a specific purpose if appropriate.<br><br>So, here’s the topology of knowledge, as I’m familiar with it. You...</p><ul><li>KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW(KK): knowledge that you know you have (explicit knowledge- clearly defined, specific). Think of this as your education and experience- formal schooling, books, seminars, training, real life experiences that taught you something or imprinted something significant in your brain. For instance, I know a specific sales process that works, because I’ve studied it and have applied it. I also know how to wash a car. I know how to cook scrambled eggs. I know that I know these things.</li><li>KNOW WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW(KDK): knowledge that you know you don’t have (known gaps). OK, here’s a few good examples for me, and you know you have some too! I know that I don’t know anything about the study of quantum mechanics in physics. I know that I don’t know how to design a 70 story skyscraper that will have at the very least, structural integrity. I also don’t know anything about how to structure complicated financial derivatives…maybe that’s a really good thing in light of the current sub-prime mess!</li><li>DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW(DKK): knowledge that you don’t know you have (tacit knowledge- implied by or inferred from actions or statements). This is akin to intuition. Sometimes we have a sense or idea about something even though we haven’t studied it. There is knowledge waiting in your head to pop out at a certain time. For example, and this falls along the lines of emotional intelligence, have you ever met someone that you instantly didn’t care for? You just knew the person didn’t match up with your standards. And, over time, you were proven right. That’s because you sensed something based on external factors, your senses, your experiences, etc. Or perhaps, as another example, you’re in a conversation with someone in a totally new subject area. Someone makes a statement and you respond. Your prior experiences and knowledge residing in your brain give you the ability to impart valid opinions and thoughts that can apply and add value to the conversation. You can draw on what’s in your head and make very reasonable and thoughtful comments…”Hey, that’s interesting. I had a situation once in a very different area but some of what I learned could apply here. Think about it this way…”</li><li>DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW(DKDK): knowledge that you don’t know that you don’t have (unknown gaps). For sure, I’m unique as a human and so is everyone. Each one of us has had our brains developed over the years and our individual knowledge is just that. Mine is mine. What I think, feel, believe and remember (TFBR) is just me. What you TFBR is just you. And so on for everyone. Do I have a clue as to what a goat herder in Nepal TFBRs? No. I definitely DKDK about that world. I’ve never given it any thought. I’m not even aware of the knowledge that is sitting there. I’m not aware of the knowledge that exists in specific disciplines or cultures. I don’t think about it because I only can relate to what I TFBR.</li></ul><p><br>There’s another way to think about the body of knowledge as related to each of us. Think of a pie-chart circle. Divide it into three sections, with two sections equal in size and the third section bigger…much bigger. The first two sections represent WHAT YOU KNOW and WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW, and together account for about 10% of the pie. The other 90%, the large part, is DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW. It’s huge because each of us really doesn’t have a clue as to what the collective knowledge of the world is and has been over centuries. We simply cannot fathom it. We can’t even think about it because we’re not aware of it.<br><br>So, what might this have to do with sales (or other interactions)? Since everyone is unique and since you don’t have a clue about the total body of knowledge, it makes it absolutely imperative that you practice, what Stephen Covey refers to as Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood. Meaning of course, that you need to ask a lot of questions, talk less and show genuine interest in the person you’re with to get to the heart of who they are, what they think and how they see the world. There are roughly five and a half billion people on the planet and each sees the world in their own way. Particularly in sales, it’s not about you. It’s not about all of your cool products and services. People really don’t care what you think. They care about what they care about and they think what they think about (and, they’re not thinking about you). It’s your job to figure out what that is and to see if your offerings fit their needs. You DKDK. The only way you can know is to ask. Ask and ye shall receive.<br></p> 2008-10-30T19:00:44Z -15.8907 230 2106 true 15 1675 topology-of-knowledge 4 2008-11-03T23:41:34Z 2008-11-03T23:41:34Z

You really don't know as much as you think you do. In fact, you don't know squat. Just knowing this can drive your sales and relationships to new levels of effectiveness.

0 2009-02-24T09:46:53Z