So how can knowledge actually be a curse? Consider a few of the ways.

Jump to Conclusions

Once we gain a degree of knowledge in a certain area, it’s difficult to resist making assumptions that we now know best what to do. Unconscious bias can cloud our rationale. In times of change (which is all the time), the methods of the past won’t always produce the same results in the future. Just because we’ve experienced success doesn’t mean we can blindly approach new situations in the same old ways.

Lose Inquisitive Spirit

Because the curse of knowledge by definition includes existing insight, it’s impossible for an expert to approach a situation as a newcomer. Where rookies default to research and external thought leadership, veterans default to their own experiences. Maintaining an inquisitive spirit is extremely difficult and can seem like a waste of time if we’re already confident we can score at least a passing grade. At this point, our expertise begins to plateau because we’re operating from memory vs. curiosity.

Fail to Communicate with Followers

If you’ve ever had an expert talk over your head, you know how hard it is to relate. Or maybe you were the expert who found it difficult to get your point across – perhaps to employees or customers. Authors Chip Heath and Dan Heath address this specific issue in an HBR article on the curse of knowledge. As an expert, you must constantly translate your message so it can be understood by the non-experts.

Fall Behind the Change Curve

I don’t know about you, but if I need emergency surgery, I want to be operated on by an expert with the latest knowledge, equipment and technology. It doesn’t matter to me if my physician was valedictorian of his medical school three decades ago – I want him to be an expert by today’s standards. If it’s been a long time since you’ve done something for the first time – and you haven’t accessed the latest thinking and methods, you may have fallen behind.

There is no substitute for knowledge and know-how. But for it to be truly be the advantage it is, we’ve got to employ it with an open mind instead of a close one. Continuous learning is more difficult than new learning, but the need has never been higher.

If you’re the expert, push yourself not just to learn new things, but also to study the latest innovations in your areas of expertise. Push yourself to see if a new approach can net better results. And if you’re an organizational leader, look for ways to capture the observations of new leaders while constantly exposing experienced leaders to new situations.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his new ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website  or follow him on Twitter.

Whether your team has achieved a significant goal or is looking to get back on track after a shake-up, here are some basic ways to get everyone back on course.

Identify the Next Horizon

Once your team has reached a goal and the celebration is over (you do celebrate big wins, right?), there can be a bit of an empty feeling. What’s next, everyone wonders. If you’re not careful, you can rely on a past victory to define your team when what you really need is a new goal. Not all new goals are equal. Some are highly visible and broadly applicable. Others are just next steps. Don’t discriminate. Choose the appropriate next step to focus your team.

Reinvent Continuously

The speed of change continues to accelerate, which means what worked yesterday may not work today. It’s becoming much more difficult to duplicate past wins. On one hand, setting off in a new direction provides the opportunity to break down your operation and processes into small parts and identify improvements for each one. On the other hand, it’s important to be aware of the potential necessity to throw out your whole business model and chart a new course.

Remember, it’s far easier to change on your own terms than to wait until you have no other option.

Get Back to the Basics

Every year when the Green Bay Packers began training camp, the late head coach Vince Lombardi would gather the team together with a football in hand and remind them, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” It didn’t matter whether the Packers had just won a championship the year before (as they often had). After Easy Company captured Adolf Hitler’s famous Eagle’s Nest in WWII, Major Winters had his troops perform routine training exercises until they were sent back home. Once we’ve tasted success, it’s tempting to become lax on the fundamentals. But without them, the victories aren’t possible.

Engage Your People

No time is ever the wrong time to engage your people. But in the moments following a success or preceding a new initiative, take extra care to ensure a strong connection. Make sure your folks know they are appreciated, but are also keenly aware of how their work connects to the mission of the organization. Don’t just tell them once, tell them over and over again. Give rewards and promotions where due. And if organizational change is part of the equation, take special pains upfront to address how their daily work experience will transition.

In The Art of Leadership, Max de Pree says, “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.” That’s great advice to keep in mind in times of transition as well as (rare) times of stability.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his new ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website  or follow him on Twitter.

Set Your Destination

When something is new, the possibilities can seem endless. New job? New project? You can take it anywhere you want, right? The problem is that endless possibilities significantly impede progress. That’s why Stephen Covey dedicated one of his 7 Habits to “Start with the end in mind.” It’s also why new organizational leaders often have an onboarding structure in place for them for the first 100 days (or so).

The start of your next big thing is a critical period. So set a SMART goal. Set a next step. Begin to set your destination – if not your final destination, then at least your next one. Until you do, progress will be difficult.

Get a Quick Win

In today’s ever-changing organizational environment, unfortunately there isn’t much patient for long-term initiatives. Because of this, even the best strategies can fall by the wayside unless they demonstrate a quick win.

A quick win is a tangible and visible evidence of progress. It gives your new project a concrete story to tell (after all, it’s hard to argue with results). It enhances visibility. And for professional as well as personal projects, it helps provide motivation to keep going. Remember: people don’t want to wait to win.

With People, Slow is Fast

Most projects can’t happen without the support of others. The bigger the project, the more support it takes. You may be able to pull off most of the nuts and bolts of the work, but if you try to go it alone, you’ll be doomed before you start. Try this:

• Build relationships with others before you need them to help you.
• Ask for and value input from others even when you don’t necessarily need it. (This will make it much easier to get when you do need it!)
• Value results AND relationships.
• Get buy-in from key decision-makers each step of the way. If you don’t, you risk having your project shut down because someone with authority wasn’t prepared for it.
• Bide your time. Credibility comes with a tenure of relational and performance capital.
• Say thank you.

Put Fear in Its Place

If there’s one topic that doesn’t get nearly enough attention, it’s fear. Fear is real and it has the power to stop anyone in his tracks and abort any otherwise worthwhile endeavor. Unfortunately, many times the greater the undertaking, the stronger the fear. In his book Start, Jon Acuff says that, “Fear tends to argue both sides of the coin, leaving you absolutely no room to stand. Here are two of the complete opposite things it will tell you: Don’t chase your dream at all, and: If you chase your dream, you have to do it all at once.”

Dale Carnegie dedicated an entire book to disrobing the anatomy of fear and putting it in its rightful place. For that reason, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living is a must-read. Some fears are worth considering, but most play on our insecurities. The longer we pretend fear isn’t real – or that it doesn’t affect us – the longer we’ll limit our progress.

Acknowledge fear, but put it in its rightful place. Follow George Patton’s advice: “Don’t take counsel of your fears.”

One final thought: none of us can do everything but all of us can do something. Let’s make that thing count!

What’s your next big thing?

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website or   follow him on Twitter.

And how do we get more leaders in our organizations?

In order to figure that out, we’ve got to start by defining what leadership is begin with.

Let’s Define Leadership

If we all sat down together and tried to answer the question: “what makes someone a leader?” we’d probably be at it for quite a while. Whenever I ask a group of managers, inevitably they respond with notions such as: someone who sets vision, communicates well, behaves ethically, executes, and a wide variety of other responses. They’re all good answers, but if leadership entails everything, how can we actually differentiate between a leader and a non-leader?

I’ve come to use a simple definition of leadership. Here it is:

A leader is someone who: has influence and creates change.

That’s it. That’s how we can tell who the leaders are. Here’s the good news: this is an all-inclusive list. Not everyone is a leader, but everyone can become one by using the influence they have to create positive change right where they are. That means we can have leaders behind the counter just like we can in the C-suite. We can have leaders on the front lines as well as leaders at headquarters. Not everyone has the same level of influence or scope for change. But everyone can do something. Leaders make the difference.

Who Do Leaders Lead?

So who do leaders lead? These are the three groups:

Self: It may sound odd to say that leaders lead themselves, but that’s where it begins. Leadership begins by being proactive and accepting the responsibility to create change and deliver the results one’s self is responsible for. Leaders take the responsibility to know their strengths and weaknesses and make a personal development plan to increase their growth and thereby their performance – without waiting for someone else to do it for them.

Others: After leaders accept responsibility for themselves, they can accept responsibility for others. This doesn’t necessarily mean managing others, but simply playing a role in using their influence to create positive changes for others. Team members are the best places to begin. Everyone has different strengths, personality styles, knowledge, skills and experiences. Leaders recognize and maximize opportunities to use theirs to benefit others. (My whole ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor focuses on how anyone can do this). And if you don’t have anyone on your team you can develop, find a way to develop someone else on another team.

Organization: Did you ever stop to think that each person in the organization can do something to make things better for everyone? Obviously, major decisions from the top can drastically change the organizational reality for each person. But one process improvement, enhancement or good idea that is shared and implemented can accomplish the same. Where someone is doesn’t matter. What they make of things does.

It’s not enough to tell your followers that all of them are leaders and then move on. We’ve got to let them know what a leader looks like and then who they can lead – and how. If you think only the folks at the top of your organization are leaders, that’s all you’ll get. But if you build from the ground up, tomorrow’s leaders will start coming to you today.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website or   follow him on Twitter.