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Guest post by: Leanne Hoagland-Smith Become an Author

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Unfortunately, Elliot Aronson, a social psychologist, recognized that human beings “are not rational beings as much as rationalizing beings.” Possibly, this characteristic to rationalize may be part of the magic pill syndrome. This syndrome is that individuals want their fix whatever that is to their performance right now without effort, without pain, without expense so that their performance can reach the level of others.

Years ago I was introduced to something call the Law of Process by a close friend and mentor. He drew a quadrant and then labeled it as follows:

Upper left hand square – unconscious incompetence – I do not know what I do not know
Lower left hand square – conscious incompetence – I now know what I do not know
Lower right hand square – conscious competence – I know what I know
Upper right hand square – unconscious competence – I know what I know without thinking


Then he drew some arrows or what he called bridges connecting the squares:

Bridge of Discovery between unconscious incompetence and conscious competence
Bridge of Learning between conscious incompetence
Bridge of Practice or Spaced Repetition between conscious competence and unconscious competence
Bridge of Complacency between unconscious competence and unconscious incompetence

One of the best examples of leaders who demonstrated that he knew what he did not know was Henry Ford in his testimony before the U.S. Congress. He freely admitted that with a phone call he could connect with someone who had the answer to any question he was facing. Ford understood his own limitations and understood that there were a lot more smart people than he was. He knew how to leverage what he did not know and make a lot of money while doing it.

Unfortunately, the magic or know it all pill syndrome has affected many within the business community. These individuals truly live in the squares 1 and 2. They look to the Magic Pill Syndrome as the solution to what they do not know. They fail to understand that they must cross through each square using the bridges.

However, when we rationalize or justify our actions, we never work through the entire quadrant We stay where we are looking for the easy way out to improve our performance. And when success does not happen, we rationalize our failure and then become victims.

Great leaders are never victims. They understand that through hard work, leveraging what they know and what they do not know, they will realize the desired results of improved performance for themselves and those they lead.

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