In 1995 McArthur Wheeler robbed two banks in Pittsburgh, USA, fully aware there were security cameras and without a mask.  When arrested he was genuinely surprised - he had, after all, rubbed lemon juice on his face, believing it would make him invisible. 

This incident led two American Social Psychologists, David Dunning and Justin Kruger, to do a research project culminating in a paper entitled… "Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments", and leading to recognition of a phenomenon now known as The Dunning Kruger Effect. 

Charles Darwin seemingly recognised this a long time ago and is quoted as saying … “Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge”.

Stephen Hawking is reputed to have said … “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge”. Today we probably recognise it as … “you don’t know what you don’t know” and … “ignorance is bliss”.

The Dunning Kruger Effect suggests that our confidence in our own competence is highest when our knowledge is relatively low (unjustified confidence). 

If we move past that high confidence/low knowledge point, we initially lose confidence as our increased knowledge allows us to realise things are more complex and that there is much we do not know. Confidence begins to return as we identify knowledge gaps and overcome them, leading ultimately to justified confidence in our competence.

As it turns out, for most of us, it is our own misguided comfort and associated inability to recognise a learning need, that stops us from learning.

If you don’t know what you don’t know, and you are nonetheless confident in your perceived ability, why would you do anything to get the additional knowledge needed for genuine competence?

Such a situation could have serious consequences for advisers, just as it did for McArthur Wheeler!

Good process and good conduct, important as these may be, do not guarantee acceptable advice. Acceptable advice is dependent on knowledge and the diligent, skilful, application of that knowledge.

Here's the good news

Broader and better knowledge, resulting in improved skill and justified confidence in your competence is good for business. Better skilled advisers should result in increased revenue and better business resilience!  This is because better knowledge, competence, and skill in advice, creates:

• Engaged, confident, happy and motivated, advisers who are equipped to give great advice.
• Confident advisers giving great advice should close more prospects and result more appropriately insured clients, resulting in more revenue.
• Clients who get great advice from genuinely competent and confident advisers are more likely to value and trust their adviser, improving persistency, referrals, and again improving revenue.
• Better advice will reduce the opportunity for complaints, the time spent on them, and pecuniary penalties or compensation awards - improving revenue, keeping your PI insurer happy, and protecting FAP directors.

So how good is your knowledge really?

If your answer is a confident “good”, you may have work to do. 

If your answer is a thoughtful but uncertain, “Mmmm so not sure”, you may be on your way to recognising and eliminating The Dunning Kruger Effect.