Leaders should say “I don’t know” because admitting a gap is the fastest way to get accurate information from the people closest to the work. Certainty shuts a room down, while curiosity opens it up, and the teams that learn fastest are led by people willing to ask more questions than they answer.

I learned this in a meeting I still think about. A group of specialists was walking through a technical problem, and the jargon was flying. Heads were nodding. Eventually I said, out loud, “I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.” The room exhaled. A few people smiled. It turned out almost nobody understood, but nobody had felt safe enough to say so. The moment the CEO admitted it, everyone else was free to be honest, and we finally started solving the real problem.

TLDR

• “I don’t know” invites the experts in the room to step forward and gives quieter voices permission to speak.
• Research by Harvard’s Francesca Gino found only about 24 percent of employees feel curious in their jobs on a regular basis, and about 70 percent face barriers to asking questions at work.
• Certainty hardens into arrogance over time. Phrases like “we already tried that” quietly kill ideas before anyone hears them.
• Curious leaders build psychological safety, which Amy Edmondson’s research links directly to team learning and performance.
• Being “probably wrong and roughly right” is a practical operating stance: decide with the best information you have, then stay open to correction.

Why Is “I Don’t Know” So Hard for Leaders to Say?

“I don’t know” is hard to say because the higher you climb, the more people expect you to have the answer. Leaders feel pressure to perform certainty, and that performance slowly costs them the truth.

That pressure spreads well beyond the leader. The Gino research, summarized by Government Executive, surveyed more than 3,000 employees and found only about 24 percent reported feeling curious in their jobs regularly, while about 70 percent said they faced barriers to asking more questions at work. In her Harvard Business Review article The Business Case for Curiosity, Gino describes the paradox directly: leaders say they value inquisitive people, then stifle curiosity because they fear it will add risk and slow things down.

People take their cues from the top. If the leader never admits uncertainty, nobody else will either. Gallup estimates that managers account for at least 70 percent of the variance in team engagement, so a leader’s willingness to say “I don’t know” sets the tone for the entire team.

Only about 24 percent of employees feel curious in their jobs on a regular basis, and about 70 percent face barriers to asking more questions at work. Francesca Gino, Harvard Business School

How Does Certainty Quietly Damage a Culture?

Certainty damages a culture by closing the door on new information. At first it looks like confidence. Over time it hardens into arrogance, and people stop bringing ideas forward because they can already predict the answer.

You can hear it in three phrases: “I’ve seen this before.” “We already tried that.” “That won’t work.” Each one sounds like experience. Each one tells the person speaking that their idea was dead on arrival. Say them often enough and the questions stop, the feedback dries up, and the organization goes stale while everyone keeps smiling in meetings.

The most dangerous person in an organization is rarely the loudest one. The real danger is the leader who believes they already know everything, because the moment a leader stops learning, culture starts drifting, and most leaders never notice it happening.

What Does Curiosity Actually Do for a Team?

Curiosity makes teams more creative, more collaborative, and better at catching mistakes early. When a leader asks real questions, people think harder, speak up sooner, and share what they know instead of what they think the leader wants to hear.

The numbers support this. A field study cited in the same Gino research found that a one-unit increase in curiosity was associated with 34 percent greater creativity. A 2025 study of 518 manager and employee pairs published in Frontiers in Psychology found that leaders who show intellectual humility, openly acknowledging the limits of what they know, improve both employee thriving and job performance.

Curiosity also builds the foundation for everything else. Amy Edmondson’s landmark study of 51 work teams found that psychological safety drives learning behavior, and learning behavior drives team performance. As Amy Gallo explains in HBR’s guide to what psychological safety means, people need to believe they can speak up without being punished or embarrassed. A leader saying “I don’t know” is one of the clearest signals that speaking up is safe.

“I don’t know. What do you think?” Five words that tell a room the smartest ideas are welcome, whoever has them.

What Does “Probably Wrong and Roughly Right” Mean in Practice?

“Probably wrong and roughly right” means making the best decision you can with the information you have, then staying open to the evidence that you missed something. Leaders still have to decide. They just hold their conclusions loosely enough to change them.

For years at WD-40 Company, I introduced myself as the “probably wrong and roughly right CEO,” and I meant it. The line gave people permission to correct me. It also reminded me to keep asking a question every leader should ask regularly: Why do I believe what I believe? Have I gathered the facts? Have I listened to the right people? Have I received good counsel? Assumptions go stale quickly, and what was true last year may be wrong today.

Dan Cable at London Business School describes the payoff in Does the Future Belong to Humble Leaders?, arguing that adaptability is the outcome humble leadership produces. McKinsey’s research on psychological safety and leadership development found that only 43 percent of respondents report a positive climate on their team, and that consultative leaders, the ones who solicit input and consider their team’s views, are the ones most likely to build it.

“I was wrong” builds more trust than almost any leadership tactic. People don’t expect leaders to be perfect. They expect them to be honest.

How Can Leaders Practice Curiosity Every Day?

Leaders practice curiosity by building small, repeatable habits into their meetings and conversations. The goal is to make asking questions the default and to reward people who bring you information you didn’t want to hear.

Start by saying “I don’t know. What do you think?” at least once in every meeting you lead. Replace “we already tried that” with “what would be different this time?” Ask the quietest person in the room for their view before you share yours. When someone corrects you, thank them publicly, because the way you respond the first time decides whether it ever happens again. Herminia Ibarra and Anne Scoular make a similar case in The Leader as Coach, noting that managers can no longer be expected to have all the answers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why should leaders say “I don’t know”?

Saying “I don’t know” invites the people with the real expertise to speak up. It signals that honesty is safe and gives quieter team members permission to contribute. Leaders get better information and make better decisions as a result.

Does admitting uncertainty make a leader look weak?

Admitting uncertainty builds credibility because people value honesty over the appearance of perfection. Research on intellectual humility shows that leaders who acknowledge the limits of their knowledge improve employee thriving and performance. Confidence comes from making sound decisions, and sound decisions depend on good information.

How does curiosity improve team performance?

Curiosity encourages people to explore ideas, question assumptions, and surface problems early. Research cited by Francesca Gino links higher curiosity to 34 percent greater creativity. Curious leaders also build psychological safety, which Amy Edmondson’s research connects to stronger team learning and performance.

What does “probably wrong and roughly right” mean?

It is Garry Ridge’s shorthand for deciding with the best information available while staying open to correction. Leaders still commit to a direction. They simply treat their conclusions as provisional and keep asking whether new facts should change them.

What phrases signal that a leader has stopped being curious?

Phrases like “I’ve seen this before,” “we already tried that,” and “that won’t work” are common warning signs. Each one closes the conversation before a new idea gets a fair hearing. Over time, people stop offering ideas at all.

What Is the Learning Moment for Leaders?

The smartest leaders I know aren’t the ones with all the answers. They’re the ones brave enough to ask the questions. A leader’s job is to bring out the brilliance in others, and that starts with admitting you don’t have it all yourself.

My challenge to you: the next time you feel the urge to perform certainty, stop and say, “I don’t know. What do you think?” You may be surprised by how much wisdom was already in the room, waiting for permission. To explore more tools for building a curious, learning culture, visit The Learning Moment.