The Dunning-kruger Effect, Business, And What To Do About It

I have a nasty habit outside of my day job here at RPM

. You might even call it a sickness. Its called being a musician. Its something that I have an intense passion for, but will never quit my day job for until I have the shot at a million dollar record deal with Capitol Records. Unlikely I knowbut I trudge on. Over the last decade, throughout my career and schooling, I have been involved with a few local bands. Some of them were terrible, some so-so and some were destined for fame. But why then, you ask, am I not touring the world with the likes of Coldplay and U2? Aside from the music industry being uber-competitive, my last band experienced a mindset that I came to know as the Dunning-Kruger effect.

For those unfamiliar with the concept here is an excerpt from Wikipedia:

The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly rating their ability much higher than average. This bias is attributed to a metacognitive inability of the unskilled to recognize their mistakes.

Actual competence may weaken self-confidence, as competent individuals may falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding. As Kruger and Dunning conclude, the miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others

So in a nutshell, for those of you who skipped the wiki definition, the unskilled are overconfident in their ability level, and the skilled actually question their ability because they have come to realize that their unskilled counterparts are a bunch of knuckleheads.

This thought process kept my band thinking too much and performing too little. In essence, we were too afraid to get out and play before we were perfect, feeling like George McFly from Back to the Future who was afraid of getting shot down, and eventually we burned out.

This paralysis by analysis may sound familiar to you if you have heard famed entrepreneur Robert T. Kiyosaki speak about the dumb and dumber getting rich and richer. He advises business owners to stop thinking too much when they cannot have all the answers, and just get out there and push business. This is not to say a business owner should be reckless in any fashion, and is based on the assumption that a business concept and plan has been developed and scrutinized.

Of course mistakes can be costly, but experience is one of the best teachers, and fortunately there are companies like RPM that can help minimize the error and speed growth. So rise above the Dunning-Kruger effect, be willing to take a step or two into the dark, and see what happens.

by: Rainy Peterson

POST COMMENT

What Is A Business Credit Asset And Why Is It Important To Your Business? Choose Custom Printed Ribbon To Help Enhance Your Business Small Business Loan Lenders Ready To Assist Here At Unsecuredbizloan Gains Per Salary - Empowered Employee Benefits Enhance Productiveness And Improve Your Business The Home Based Business Opportunity For All 5 Advantages Of Following Up In Business Marketing Your Freelance Business - How To Do This Right Way Home Business Ideas Transforming Ideas Into Reality Your Online Business. How To Be More Productive And Focused Getting Your Business On The Go With Seo It Is Easy To Research Mlm Business Opportunities Advantages Of Information Technology In Business Data Arteries - Enabling Business Strategy Through Information Technology