On not being an expert…

There’s a lot to be said about someone’s willingness to admit they don’t know something. This topic that comes up often in the advice given by people in mid-to-late stages in their career. I hear people, even my age, reflect on how once they dropped their ego and the idea that they thought they knew more than someone else, their learning increased exponentially. I believe it is so important to be able to ask as many questions as possible from those around you, especially unsolicited ones about topics they know more about than you. Not only does it keep you humble, but it encourages your curiosity, and can only strengthen your knowledge.

Now all this being said, I think that some of us might internalize our lack of expertise too much. We say ‘well I’ve never done that before so I will leave it to someone else’ or ‘I’m sure I shouldn’t be the one doing this’. Whether these sentiments come from self-doubt or from evading less desirable assignments, I know there is a balance that is difficult to achieve hidden somewhere in between.

Early on in my fellowship I jumped into a qualitative research project and offered to help organize the data. Having no research background, I did not even consider that there was entire courses, disciplines, theories, and research centered around ‘coding qualitative data’ alone. I had no idea. I had just seen a large data set with critically useful information and had the desire to turn it into a useful reference tool. I began extracting data points by theme and “tagging it” before drawing a few conclusions and posting it in a document.

I wish I could credit this, but the powerpoint I found it on was not cited. Source: Unknown

By this week, when I circled back around to continue this process, I had realized that ‘data coding’ is an actual, complicated, strategy and, to be fair, is not too far off from what I had naturally picked up – but I could definitely benefit from learning a little more. And I did! I learned a ton of best practices, which means I need to backtrack a bit on my previous progress, but will ultimately result in a higher quality outcome. Ultimately, I’m glad that I jumped into this project even though I did not have the research or data analysis beforehand. If I would have been more aware of my naivety, I just might not have taken on the project.

When we underestimate ourselves and close off our minds by compartmentalizing our skill sets, we limit our growth. Initiative and curiosity are traits that I’ve been exploring constantly as the summer goes on. To achieve true continuous learning, we must be willing to jump into things every once in a while. 

On inclusive and mindful speech…

Over the past few years, I have slowly been building rules for my own speech in an effort to be an inclusive leader and to pay more attention to the potential weight/impact that my words can hold.

Here are a few of them:*

1. Refrain from addressing a group that is not entirely composed of your personal friends as “you guys” (you all, y’all, folks, team, everyone, and crew are all great options).
2. Don’t say that you are passionate about something, prove it through the way you speak so that they already know
3. Minimize “I think” replace with “I believe”
4. If you are referring to a person you don’t know personally, always start with ‘they’ pronouns until informed otherwise, or until you are able to ask.**
5. Don’t make assumptions by speaking in generalities. Stating that “People tend to” or “We sometimes”,  is either a way of saying that *I* tend to do something, and *I* am projecting to soften the statement OR it is a judgment and an ‘othering’ statement. These are the hardest to avoid. (See ‘On not being an expert’). 

*These are rules for myself, I do not believe these are universal rules and I do not judge others for not using them, nor do I actively encourage others to follow my rules

**except for number 4

Happy weekend! – Emily