IDK is digital shorthand for “I don’t know.” I get it a lot. From young people. From older people. In response to a question. And it’s okay. Truth is, it’s better than okay to not know. It’s not better if you’re willing to stay there though. The value is in the quest to find out. Figure it out.
IDK Value In Hiring
Growing companies are always on the prowl for good people. But how do you define “good?” Easy. What are you looking for? 
CEO’s may tell me they’re looking for a C-suite cohort who will care as much as they do. Somebody who wants it (whatever IT is) as badly as they do. And they want skills and experience in whatever their industry may be. And they want somebody who has done it (again, whatever IT is) before. And they want somebody who doesn’t have bad habits to unwind. On and on it goes with great emphasis on finding a known quantity – the ideal person who knows exactly what to do to help get the company from here to there. 
I get it. Seems to make sense. Until you start to really think about it. Is that the right fit for your company? Are you sure? 
It may be. I’m not saying it’s not. But I am saying you may be neglecting one of the most valuable assets a future leader has – the ability to learn. Especially the ability to learn in real time. 
Think about the biggest and best companies on the planet. Just consider two of them: Amazon and Facebook. Two founders started humbly. In small rooms with limited resources. What those guys knew then is not at all what they know now. Chief among their strengths is the ability to learn and figure out what they didn’t know. 
In the case of Amazon, why didn’t the big shot, smarty pants who ran the biggest bookselling companies on the planet figure it out? All those people who knew the in’s and out’s of bookselling should have been the first to make it happen. Not some ex-investment banker who was a Senior VP at age 30. Within a few years of launching Amazon, with about $300K from his parents, he had a dinner with executives of Barnes & Noble who told him they were about to launch their own website, which would destroy Amazon. Based on their experience and know-how you could argue that it should have worked. It didn’t. 
Facebook wasn’t the first social media site aimed at connecting people. Once you get past the IRC’s (Internet Relay Chat) of the late 80’s and early 90’s you likely don’t remember a site called Six Degrees, which may have been the first real social media platform designed to enabled users to upload a profile and make friends with other users. Six Degrees grew to about 100 employees and over 3.5 million users. They started in 1997, seven years before Facebook. By 2001 they were gone after having been sold in 1999 for $125. Cue up Queen’s song, “Another one bites the dust” here. 
Both Amazon and Facebook should have been created by people already occupying their space. That is, according to the logic most CEO’s and HR folks are applying to their hiring process of looking for people who have already done exactly what you think you need done. It’s a stupid practice in many instances. Maybe even most. Sure, there are some very technical roles that require experienced expertise, but there are far more roles that not only don’t need it, but I’d argue they’re hampered by it. 
It’s called perspective. You often hear people talk about having “fresh eyes” look at something. We know the value of letting people look at something when they’re not even sure what they’re looking at. Having some people who are brave enough to say, IDK is valuable. 
Facebook and Amazon both questioned assumptions others weren’t wil...