Ignorance Makes It Easier To Make Things Up

Strategic naivete can be a creative advantage. If you don’t know anything about a subject it’s a heck of a lot easier to come up with ideas to contribute on the topic. Ignorance makes it easier to make things up.

People hear the word “ignorant” and think it’s an insult.
Ironically, that’s an ignorant response to ignorance.

All ignorance means is that you don’t possess knowledge on a particular subject.

It doesn’t mean you are incapable of gaining that knowledge. It simply means you don’t know what you don’t know. This can give you a distinct advantage if you need to come up with new ideas in an industry you don’t know anything about, or for a product you don’t use.

Without prior knowledge of the subject, you are not going to be jaded by historical information that others may possess. You don’t know what they tried in the past. You don’t know what worked and what didn’t. You don’t know that there isn’t a budget for that. You don’t know that the owner hates social media or leans conservatively in politics.

You won’t be ignorant of these things for long (because the people who are jaded will rush to point it out to you like it’s a race), but your initial ignorance of these things will keep you from censoring yourself when brainstorming ideas with the group.

Everyone is ignorant — just on different topics.

Don’t let your lack of knowledge prevent you from contributing ideas.
It’s the person who didn’t know that people weren’t meant to fly that helped us take to the skies.