Thursday, October 27, 2011

How can we Learn something from people who are smarter than us ?

Quite often , we happen to barge on to people who knows more than what we know about a particular subject. If the subject happens to be something which we consider ourselves as something , then , It is
more disconcerting. 

A natural defense mechanism triggers in such situation and we will try to pose as something by hiding the inherent dis-belief.

The common reactions are

                            1) Be on the guard , speak less ( Posing ourselves  as an expert )
                            2) Projection of our strong points and guarding the soul
                            3) Ignore the person in question by moving out ASAP.

I think , the best strategy is to acknowledge to ourselves that the person in front of us know more than us about the subject. By swallowing our pride , we should engage the person in conversations,to understand his strong points and how he has achieved better expertize. By asking good questions , you can make him speak and some of the idea will percolate to you and you can close the gap.

To do this , one needs Intellectual humility and should be able to acknowledge the sheer complexity of life.




1 comments:

Angels said...

It's very very useful info. Now I'll try it in communication with such people.