Just stumbled across this brilliant blog post via a Tweet from @pierrefar (he’s the brains behind the cli.gs URL shortener by the way). It’s called “The importance of stupidity in scientific research” and explains that the feeling of stupidity or ignorance is an indicator for one’s treading on new ground:
“[...] we don’t do a good enough job of teaching our students how to be productively stupid – that is, if we don’t feel stupid it means we’re not really trying. I’m not talking about “relative stupidity”, in which the other students in the class actually read the material, think about it and ace the exam, whereas you don’t. I’m also not talking about bright people who might be working in areas that don’t match their talents. Science involves confronting our “absolute stupidity”. That kind of stupidity is an existential fact, inherent in our efforts to push our way into the unknown.”
In the context of organizations, this philosophy can be related to cultural predispositions or hindrances to creative thinking and innovation. If we allow ourselves to feel stupid in an “absolute” way, we can embrace the task of solving a problem better than if we were thinking that there is surely someone who has got the answer.