… make sure you’re not falling for the Dunning–Kruger effect, a cognitive bias where the unskilled mistakenly assess their ability to be much higher than it really is.
According to their study, Dunning and Kruger proposed that, for a given skill, incompetent people will fail to recognize:
- their own lack of skill
- the extent of their inadequacy
- genuine skill in others
This explains why working for an incompetent boss is so frustrating. Not only are they blind to their deficiency, they also fail to see your skill.
The only way for an incompetent people to recognize and acknowledge their skill gap is by exposing themselves to training for that specific skill.
No matter how good you are, keep learning and building your skills. If you don’t, it’s easy to slide into incompetence. What’s scary is that you won’t even know it. Unfortunately, those who are skilled will know and they’ll eat your lunch (and probably your dinner as well).
Next time you see or work with someone who is inept, let that motivate and remind you to work on your own skills.
Photo by Chris and Karen Hyland
