The Curse of Knowledge

When your expertise alienates you

There is a particular type of frustration that comes with expertise - one that people rarely want to admit. It's the moment when you're explaining something that seems crystal clear in your mind, but the blank stares across the room tell a different story. Your words, filled with meaning to you, land flat and lifeless to others.

I feel this acutely when meeting founders or engaging with people who have little African context. What seems like an obvious market opportunity based on years of working and investing in African founders and businesses becomes an exhausting exercise in explanation. The frustration isn't just about others not understanding or seeing your point - it's about the feeling of isolation. Why don’t they just get it?

The Professional Paradox

A 1990 Stanford experiment perfectly captured this phenomenon. "Tappers" were asked to tap out well-known songs while listeners tried to guess the melodies. The tappers predicted a 50% success rate. The reality? only 2.5%!!!

But here's what I believe the experiment didn't account for: the growing frustration of the tappers because of the inability of others to hear what was so obvious to them.

The Leadership Challenge

This curse becomes particularly painful in leadership positions. When you're trying to:

• Drive strategic initiatives that seem obviously beneficial but others can’t see it

• Implement changes that align with clear market trends but are not evident to others

• Rally teams around opportunities that you can clearly see but others are blind to

The resistance you meet isn't always about the merit of your ideas - it's about the gap between your understanding and others'. This gap eventually breeds situations where you display:

• Impatience with seemingly "slow" pace of adoption

• Frustration with having to repeatedly explain things

• A creeping sense of isolation in your vision

• The temptation to force understanding rather than build it

The Business World

In business settings, this curse creates a cascade of problems that I’ve seen play out over and over again:

1. Strategic initiatives fail because leaders can't effectively communicate their vision

2. Teams become misaligned because assumptions about shared understanding prove false

3. Projects stall because crucial context gets lost in translation

4. Innovation suffers because experts can't effectively share their insights

When You Want to Be Heard

One of my personal struggles - and I'm being brutally honest here - has been the overwhelming urge to have the last word. In meetings, panels, and even casual conversations, I'd find myself adding "just one more thing" repeatedly. Why? Because I felt the weight of unshared knowledge pressing on me, I wanted to pass as much knowledge as possible to those who cared to listen.

But here's the painful truth I've learned: Getting the last word isn't a sign of great knowledge - it's often a sign of poor listening. Every additional point I made wasn't necessarily adding value; sometimes it was just widening the knowledge gap.

Breaking Free: A New Approach

1. Embrace the Beginner's Mind

Instead of feeling frustrated by others' "lack" of understanding:

• Appreciate the fresh perspectives they bring

• Use their questions to challenge your assumptions

• Learn from their viewpoint

2. Master Strategic Silence

Rather than rushing to fill every knowledge gap:

• Create space for others to process information

• Allow questions to emerge naturally

• Resist the urge to have the last word

• Practice active listening without an immediate response

• Learn the art of “the pause”

3. Build Knowledge Bridges

Instead of forcing understanding, here’s what you can do to get people to see from your perspective:

• Create stepped learning paths, dummy down the information

• Use analogies from familiar contexts they can identify with

• Validate the understanding of the audience at each step

• Welcome and encourage questions

4. Manage Your Emotional Response

When you find yourself getting frustrated, here’s what you can do:

• Recognize it could be a signal of the curse at work

• Take a step back to reassess your assumptions

• Focus on the journey of understanding, not just the destination. You can take a horse to the trough, you can force the horse to drink the water.

Going Forward

The curse of knowledge isn't just a communication barrier - it's an emotional and professional challenge that requires constant vigilance. Success isn't measured by how much knowledge you can share, but by how effectively you can bridge gaps and bring others along on the journey.

Remember: Your expertise should be a bridge, not a barrier. The goal isn't to demonstrate how much you know but to help others understand what they need to know.