Just say, "I DON'T KNOW!"

The biggest reason why the Americans have done so well, I think, is because they are not afraid to say, "I don't know!"

Plain and simple, "I DON'T KNOW!"

Funny, how such a statement professing ignorance can work wonders! Well, you goto any pan-shop in Kolkata, and ask them for directions. 50% of the time, you'll get correct directions, the remaining 50%, you get wrong directions. Consider the time lost in following the wrong directions, tie this up with loss in employee productivity, man-hours, frustration, etc. Now, if the person had just said, "I don't know!"

The same theory can be extrapolated to bigger engineering projects where entire project teams are misled by someone who should simply have said, "I don't know!" Do the math and you soon begin to see savings and hard $$ associated with a simple, "I don't know!"

Again consider the inventions and discoveries associated when a person dared to say, "I don't know why that happened!"

The ego built into every person and especially true with the Indian psyche that thinks that the Indian brains are the best are all very big obstacles against inculcating the "I don't know!" mentality.

More true and common when you go to the higher institutes of learning in India. Everyone knows everything, there is no need to know more. The professors in the US universities, (the really good ones) don't mind professing, "I don't know!". When you don't know, you make efforts to know.

So, next time, your professor or boss asks you a question, feel proud when you say, "I DON'T KNOW!!"