More times than I care to count over the past few years, Ed and I have been in conversation with someone with authority to allocate capital who has said some version of, “I don’t know how to think about this.” In nearly all of those instances, I don’t know has been deployed as a polite way of ending the conversation.
Congratulations!
Please let me be very clear that I take no offense at I don’t know. On the contrary, I wholeheartedly commend people of all disciplines for unabashedly acknowledging the limits of their expertise, and I try to be enthusiastically transparent in acknowledging my own. For far too many professionals, saying “I don’t know” is seen as an admission of weakness, an embarrassment or failure. But in each of my various careers so far I have found it’s imperative for establishing credibility: no one knows everything, and one of the quickest ways to sow distrust in thinking people’s minds is to pretend that you have total command of all the answers. Conversely, declaring plainly when you don’t know something immediately serves to establish credibility, build trust, and open the door to new vistas. So kudos to all those who are willing to plainly say, “I don’t know,” exercise their intellectual curiosity, and embrace the good fortune of being presented with something valuable to learn. For me, I don’t know has been the portal that opened onto the joy of discovery and most, if not all, of my proudest accomplishments.
Don’t stop there.
However, the disturbing pattern we have repeatedly encountered does none of those things.
Instead, the declaration “I don’t know” is used to shut down any new possibilities, to preclude any exploration of the unknown. In these instances, I don’t know signals I am not willing to discover. Rather than I don’t know marking the entry point to novel insights and expanded opportunities, it serves as a barrier, an enclosure, the boundary beyond which “here be dragons,” as old maps sometimes demarcated the unknown, with its uncatalogued monsters and hazards. In these cases, I don’t know is a terminus, rather than a launch pad. It is a declaration that I have marked my limit; I will go no further.
“If you don’t know how to do something, say yes and learn how to do it later.”
— Sir Richard Branson
It’s ironic that the practice of saying “I don’t know” as a way of balking at the unfamiliar should be so commonplace in an era in which nearly everyone is busily touting their commitment to innovation, creativity, analytical insight, and the like. We know that breakthroughs are achieved by those who are willing to put those ideals into practice; that practice necessarily begins with I don’t know and proceeds to what can we learn here? and what could we try? Moreover, we know that there is already an abundance of evidence that capital allocators consistently overestimate the risk and underestimate the opportunity associated with stepping outside their established practices (see our recent Field Note for indicative references).
Furthermore, in an era of unprecedented, multidimensional, accelerating change, there is a strong argument to be made that the only way to survive and thrive is to make a disciplined practice of thoughtfully and intentionally setting aside comfortable certainties [worth watching in its entirety], redrawing the map as you go.
So you have questions, doubts, concerns … ? Excellent! Ask away. Those queries and the answers you find will serve as guideposts in your explorations.
Unfamilar, not unknown — and definitely not an end point
For those who are willing to step beyond the known and familiar, the good news is that there is a large and growing body of data on which to build new maps, new practices, new expertise, new markets, new standards for performance. And there are multiple success stories to draw on as well.
For our part, Reinventure Capital is building on Ed’s successful track record of investing in US-based expansion stage (breakeven or so) companies led by people of color and/or women, poised to become the economic engines that will positively transform sectors, societies, markets, and lives — and generate non-concessionary returns to investors.*
We are well aware that although this is familiar territory to us, it is still terra incognita for many others. And we are invigorated by all the ways in which we are challenged to stretch and expand our own expertise as we go along. Best of all, we are constantly inspired and energized by pathbreaking colleagues, founders and LPs alike who are actively reshaping the unfamiliar into the respected and celebrated. Not only is frontier work valuable and important, it is also fun!
If you’re looking for ways to convert I don’t know from an end point to a starting point, please contact us!
And if you are already actively redrawing the investing map, please share, so others can join you in capturing the advantages and rewards of starting, rather than ending, with I don’t know.
Image credit: Apple iOs Memoji
*While there’s no such thing as a guarantee in investing and no one can reliably predict the future, Ed’s prior track record delivering 32%IRR to investors provides direct evidence that it is indeed possible to consistently invest for both financial returns and social value creation. If you are an accredited investor and would like to learn more about investments that can advance social, racial, and gender equity by supporting high-value companies led by women and/or people of color, please contact us to start that conversation.
Legal Notice
The information contained in this blog does not constitute, and should not be used or construed as, an offer to sell, or a solicitation of any offer to buy, securities of any issuer, fund or other investment product in any jurisdiction. No such offer or solicitation may be made prior to the delivery of definitive offering documentation. The information in this blog is not intended and should not be construed as investment, tax, legal, financial or other advice.
1 Comment
There is a fantastic Market in the integrated, speciality Electronic Health Records and Revenue Cycle Management markets. One special one is led by Coletta Dorado at Azzly.
She is a terrific CEO.