The Tao of leadership and Dunning-Kruger

Join me on a journey of exploring the profound wisdom of leadership through the lens of Taoism connected to the Dunning-Kruger effect. In this blog, we delve into the essence of the Tao of leadership, drawing inspiration from ancient Chinese philosophy to uncover timeless principles that guide effective and harmonious leadership when there is a knowledge gap.

This week, I have been talking a lot about the Dunning-Kruger effect with people. The Dunning-Kruger effect occurs when a person’s lack of knowledge and skills in a certain area cause them to overestimate their own competence. Thinking you are better than you are at something can cause you to miss out on opportunities to learn from others, who truly are more skilled or more knowledgeable. Unfortunately, those who are the most ignorant — in the bottom 25% of any skill — also overestimate themselves the most. The Dunning-Kruger effect can cause us to listen to confident people before reputable people. So it is an answer to the question why the most knowledgable people often don’t get heard. That can be very frustrating.

But the question is whether this is the right question. Maybe the question “Why do the most knowledgable people don’t get heard?” is not the right question to ask. Maybe the question is “Why do the most knowledgable people want to be heard?” or “Is is necessary for the most knowledgable people to be heard?” or “When do the most knowledgable people get heard?” or “How can you lead from a place of knowledge?”.

The invisible leader

The Tao Te Ching has some interesting thoughts on Leadership that might help:

“The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.

Next comes the ruler they love and praise; next comes the one they fear; next comes the one with whom they take liberties.

Where there is not enough faith, there is a lack of good faith.

Hesitant, he does not utter words lightly.

When his task is accomplished and his work is done the people all say “it happened to us naturally.”
— Lao Tzu, Chapter 42 of the Tao Te Ching

The best leader is barely visible. A leader that is loved and praised is good but a leader who is barely noticeable is better. The best leader trusts the people. And when the success is achieved, the people don’t even notice the influence of the leader.

This is the opposite of the person who wants to be heard. Leadership is not a position. Anyone can lead from anywhere. When you are knowledgable about a subject, you might want to lead in that subject. This is normal. But to lead doesn’t mean that you need to be visible, heard. If you want to be loved and praised, you need to be seen and heard because otherwise people don’t know your part in the success. But according to the Tao Te Ching, this is not the highest form of leadership. The highest form of leadership is invisible, silent. It works in the shadows and leaves the credit to the people.

Those who know don’t speak

Let the most confident people speak. The Tao Te Ching says the same as Dunning and Kruger:

“One who knows does not speak; one who speaks does not know.” — Lao Tzu, Chapter 56 of the Tao Te Ching

Wait for the invitation

Confidence in speech does not equal knowledge. Silence can be more powerful that speaking. Once people attain more knowledge and progress on the Dunning-Kruger scale, they will come to realize the value of your knowledge and they will start to listen. Just wait for the invitation.

Transcend the ego

Wanting to be heard and seen is all about the ego. Once you become aware of that and transcend that, you might find that working from the shadows is more effective leadership than being seen and heard. There will be less praise and love but that is not the goal of leadership. The goal of leadership is to empower, help, and guide others. If the satisfaction comes from the success and the empowerment and not from the praise, you have entered the highest form of leadership according to the Tao.

Thank you for taking the time to read this essay. I hope you enjoyed it. If you clap for this essay, I will know I connected with you. If you follow me here on Medium, you will see more essays pop up on your Medium homepage. You can also subscribe to an email service here on Medium which will drop new essays right into your inbox. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn to see new articles in your timeline or chat with me there.