37 Signals: Don’t be so quick to embrace your own ignorance

Posted 2 years ago at 8:08 pm. 0 comments

Just read a rather interesting blog entry by David Heinemeier from 37 Signals (you know, the guy who invented the Rails framework for Ruby). The article titled ”
Don’t be so quick to embrace your own ignorance”, talks about how a lot of people just dont live up to their potential because they do not consider themselves the stereotypical experts in a domain.

Reading the entry I could immediately picture more than a couple of people I know who seem to do that. The other thing I find is a lot which is kind of related is that people who are more than competent in a field undersell themselves in an effort to be modest whereas a converse group of people, blessed with a lot more confidence (and occasionally arrogance) sell themselves enough to seem more competent than the other guy.

I guess being an effective worker is a product of competence and confidence.

Reading David’s blog and his gripe on “for Dummies” books reminded me of this picture I took at my local bookstore a couple of months back:

Anyway, check out the link in the blog entry and the comments thread below, its definitely worth a read.