... the hardest thing for a programmer to do :-)
... and near suicide for a consultant :0(
RichardFeynman on honest responses from politicians that admit ignorance:
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- Now such a man would never get anywhere in this country, I think. It's never been tried, anyway. This is in the attitude of mind of the populace, that they have to have an answer and that a man who gives an answer is better than a man who gives no answer, when the real fact of the matter is, in most cases, it is the other way around. [...] And the result of this is that political promises can never be kept. [...] The result of that is that nobody believes campaign promises. -- The Meaning of It All (ISBN 0738201669 ) [http://www.addall.com/New/compare.cgi?dispCurr=US&isbn=0738201669&location=10000&state=OR]
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- To realize that you do not understand is a virtue;
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- Not to realize that you do not understand is a defect.
The reason why
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- The sage has no defects,
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- Is because he treats defects as defects.
Thus,
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- He has no defects.
--
TaoTeChing
Those three little words men find so hard to say: "I don't know." (credit where due: This is a running joke on the Canadian-based public television comedy series, The Red Green Show.)
I always do, never had problems. Highly recommended.
I'll second that. Learning starts when you answer,"I don't know" and follow it up immediately with,"but I'll find out." Gets you out of the situation at hand and (forbid!) demonstrates humility and (worse yet!) humanity.
CategoryPsychology CategoryCommunication CategoryQuote
Admit Ignorance