{"id":2158,"date":"2012-09-21T13:09:24","date_gmt":"2012-09-21T19:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/?p=2158"},"modified":"2025-06-02T05:37:57","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T10:37:57","slug":"ignorance-phobia-pretending-you-understand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/ignorance-phobia-pretending-you-understand\/","title":{"rendered":"Ignorance Phobia: Pretending You Understand"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div>\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"2158\" class=\"elementor elementor-2158\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-9eee7e2 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"9eee7e2\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-bdabd75 elementor-widget elementor-widget-template\" data-id=\"bdabd75\" 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data-id=\"27d775a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"theme-post-title.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Ignorance Phobia: Pretending You Understand<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5417b4f elementor-align-center elementor-widget elementor-widget-post-info\" data-id=\"5417b4f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"post-info.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"elementor-inline-items elementor-icon-list-items elementor-post-info\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item elementor-repeater-item-545bbe2 elementor-inline-item\" itemprop=\"author\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/author\/lbwebmaster\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span 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class=\"bsf-rt-display-time\" reading_time=\"2\"><\/span> \n\t\t<span class=\"bsf-rt-display-postfix\" postfix=\"mins\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-73b91e1 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"73b91e1\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-9be926b elementor-widget elementor-widget-theme-post-featured-image elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"9be926b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"theme-post-featured-image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/elementor\/thumbs\/confused-ms-qon9j4nbzfhrlflnpe69ynunedlw0ooi2ahfnm1qtc.jpg\" title=\"Man Scratching Head\" alt=\"Man Scratching Head\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-5c0d712 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"5c0d712\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-93a2a43\" data-id=\"93a2a43\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-39c9ca54 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"39c9ca54\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/confused-ms.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" style=\"margin: 0px 8px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/confused-ms-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Confused\" width=\"160\" height=\"240\" title=\"\"><\/a>What is Ignorance Phobia?<\/h3><p>You&#8217;re suffering from <strong><em>ignorance phobia<\/em><\/strong> during a conversation when you&#8217;re not clear about the other person is saying but you&#8217;re afraid to ask for clarification for fear of appearing ignorant. <strong>You pretend to understand when you don&#8217;t.<\/strong><\/p><p>When that occurs and you fail to get the message, everyone loses. And you may not be as good at hiding confusion as you think you are. So let&#8217;s take a closer look at this common communication conundrum.<\/p><h3>Your Challenge<\/h3><p>Think about the last time you <em>pretended to know<\/em> and didn&#8217;t and ask yourself:<\/p><ul><li>Am I allowing my selfishness to defeat the purpose of communication?<\/li><li>What is my definition of fraudulent behavior? Does this act of deception qualify?<\/li><li>Am I lacking either <em>self-confidence<\/em> or <em>courage<\/em> needed to admit I don&#8217;t know all?<\/li><\/ul><h3>Solutions<\/h3><p>Let&#8217;s begin with a Key Assumption: <strong>In two-way communication, each person genuinely wants to get their message across<\/strong>. So asking for clarification is a form of respect for the other person&#8217;s point of view. As a receiver of the message, isn&#8217;t it your responsibility to assure that you have the clarity needed? If you&#8217;re now ready to stop this cowardly, dysfunctional communication sin, let&#8217;s go to work on&#8230;<\/p><h3>Breaking Your Habit of Pretending to Know<\/h3><p>Do you habitually pretend you understand? If you are willing to break that habit, you need to develop&#8230;<\/p><ul><li>A new mindset to overcome the fear of asking and appearing less knowledgeable. Unless you can put your ego in check, how will you ever learn?<\/li><li>Improved skills for asking for clarification.<\/li><\/ul><p>Then you need to practice your new behaviors until they become new, more productive habits.<\/p><h3>Are You Inducing <em>Ignorance Phobia<\/em> in Others?<\/h3><p>The more of a subject matter expert that you become the more likely that you will suffer from &#8220;The Curse of Knowledge&#8221; when discussing that subject. What is <strong><em>The Curse of Knowledge<\/em><\/strong>?<\/p><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>More on <a href=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/overcoming-the-curse-of-knowldege\/\" rel=\"prev\">Overcoming The Curse of Knowledge<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p><h3>Remember<\/h3><p>When it comes to becoming an effective communicator: <strong>Vulnerability is Underrated. <\/strong><\/p><h3>Related Articles<\/h3><ul><li><a title=\"Digesting Acronym Alphabet Soup\" href=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/acronym-ambiguity\/\">Digesting Acronym Alphabet Soup<\/a><\/li><li><a title=\"7 Secrets of Highly Effective Communication\" href=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/7_secrets_of_effective_communicaiton\/\">7 Secrets of Highly Effective Communication<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-66c07c6 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"66c07c6\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-262ba1a e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"262ba1a\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-23400eb elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"23400eb\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Epic Example: The Puffy Shirt<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f60f136 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"f60f136\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-998a1c6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"998a1c6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">The Ignorance Phobic Conversation<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-fe56ba2 elementor-widget elementor-widget-video\" data-id=\"fe56ba2\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;youtube_url&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/youtu.be\\\/vKWYg9qFOpA?si=UMS2mkT52pmq2tCQ&quot;,&quot;video_type&quot;:&quot;youtube&quot;,&quot;controls&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"video.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-wrapper elementor-open-inline\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-video\"><\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f4f0884 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"f4f0884\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ffb80bd elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"ffb80bd\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">The Outcome<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5c1ce2d elementor-widget elementor-widget-video\" data-id=\"5c1ce2d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;youtube_url&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/youtu.be\\\/Hdx1m0JpNVY?si=c9IETRaus0Bwpeh1&quot;,&quot;end&quot;:78,&quot;video_type&quot;:&quot;youtube&quot;,&quot;controls&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"video.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-wrapper elementor-open-inline\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-video\"><\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6b79b79 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"6b79b79\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3d76cd6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"3d76cd6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3>Related Articles<\/h3><ul><li><a title=\"Digesting Acronym Alphabet Soup\" href=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/acronym-ambiguity\/\">Digesting Acronym Alphabet Soup<\/a><\/li><li><a title=\"7 Secrets of Highly Effective Communication\" href=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/7_secrets_of_effective_communicaiton\/\">7 Secrets of Highly Effective Communication<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You&#8217;re suffering from ignorance phobia during a conversation when you&#8217;re not clear about the other person is saying but you&#8217;re afraid to ask for clarification for fear of appearing ignorant. You pretend to understand when you don&#8217;t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_header_footer","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[24,30],"tags":[283],"class_list":["post-2158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication-skills","category-listening-skill","tag-communication-skills"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/confused-ms.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1I2Yr-yO","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2158"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17045,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2158\/revisions\/17045"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}