Embrace Your Ignorance
The overconfidence of presumed expertise is counterproductive. Instead, data trumps intuition. Serious innovators take data seriously, argues Michael Schrage: "Organizations may be confident they know their customers, but they're very likely to be overconfident. Most executives aren't nearly as smart, perceptive or customer-centric as they believe.” Successful innovators, he writes, "have the courage of their curiosity" and run experiments that challenge their assumptions.