A worse syndrome than Imposter Syndrome

Lots of people have imposter syndrome, a condition in which people can't accept their talents or achievements. This is a sad condition, but while it causes individual suffering and might prevent someone who is actually talented from becoming as well-known as they should be -- it isn't devastating to society as a whole.

There is an opposite syndrome that is much more harmful. It is called the Dunning-Kruger effect, a condition in which people without competence are extremely confident. Put another way, as one Internet wordsmith did, they are so incompetent that they can't even grasp their incompetence. The Dunning-Kruger effect can be anything from comic to tragic.

I first heard about this effect on a Netflix documentary about the Flat Earthers, people who believe -- despite clear and obvious science -- that the world is flat. These people passionately believe that they are right, and their confidence in the face of clear evidence is a fascinating and sometimes comic example of the Dunning-Kruger effect (although it is more tragic to the moms who have to house some of their adult children in their basements).

Unfortunately, there are many examples of people in society who suffer from the Dunning-Kruger effect, and they can cause damage.

Before the coming list, note that people who are experts typically underestimate their capabilities. They don't brag. They worry that they are imposters. So, if you are wondering if the Dunning-Kruger effect applies to you, you now know that considering the possibility at all is probably a good sign that you probably don't have it.

This effect applies to a few too many coaches. While I speak to coaches who fret that -- despite years of experience -- they won't be good coaches (imposter syndrome), I worry most about the ones who think they are great. Some even have advanced coaching credentials, including Master Certified Coach (MCC) from the International Coaching Federation. They don't realize that their 2,000th hour of coaching was just as bad as their first; repeated tasks do not equate to excellence. You will know coaches with the Dunning-Kruger effect when they use psychobabble, jargon, and arrogantly push a particular philosophy or approach on you.

For instance, many coaches talk about neuroscience as if they were experts, when the top scientists in the world can't even fully explain how neurons map out in a slug. One study discovered that if you put a dead salmon under a PET scan, show the scan to so-called experts, and don't tell them they are looking at a salmon and not a human brain, some will see patterns and interpret for you what the "person" under the PET scan is thinking. Neuroscience has a long way to go before we can speak confidently about how it can help an executive reshape their brain wiring.

Similarly, many coaches promote a school of thought called ontology. Ontology is about what it means to be human, with an emphasis on being. The originator, at least the one coaches refer to most, was a philosopher named Heidegger. Lots of coaches swear by ontology. I've seen some great results from these coaches, but it's not due to whatever it is that Heidegger wrote. If you want to see the Dunning-Kruger effect at work, challenge any of these coaches to read a single paragraph by Heidegger and tell you what that guy was talking about.

For a third example, I recently sought out a life coach to help me lose weight. I figured that because I make fun of life coaches so often (e.g., "What do you say to a life coach when they ring you doorbell?" A: "How much for the pizza?" and "What do you call a life coach who recently broke up with their significant other?" A: "Homeless.") I should try one and see if they are any good. The most compelling one I found told me to stop trying to lose weight and instead "release weight," which they would help me do for just $4,000 over a few months. Not wanting to be ripped off so blatantly, I instead settled on a simple program of reducing food intake at a reasonable pace for a few hundred dollars, and I've "released" 25 pounds so far.

Again, there are many great coaches, but they tend to be humble, focus on results, and listen before they spew the garbage about which too many other coaches are so confident.

It's not just coaching. We see the Dunning-Kruger effect in lots of other places. I believe that...

• Anyone who thinks, really thinks, that they can be President of a country the size and complexity of the United States, has to have this syndrome.
• Anyone who has the arrogance to push on 300 million Americans a program that gets rid of airplanes, cows, entire energy industries, and costs $73 trillion -- after being a bartender as her only job -- has this syndrome.
• The guy in your family, who parrots either the New York Times, CNN, Fox News, or Wall Street Journal to make his political points, has it.
• Anyone who has been in Congress for over 25 years and shamelessly thinks they have done a good job and still deserves to be there, has it.
• Politicians who come up with bumper sticker solutions to complex problems like immigration, inequality, and the environment have it.
• Parents who won't vaccinate their kids have it.
• Many managers -- the ones who speak loudly, don't ask for input, and always know the answers without giving much thought to the issue -- have this syndrome. Studies show that the loudest person in a meeting often wins, even if their ideas are stupid.
• Any parent who thinks their 6-year old is profoundly gifted just because they said something funny, as well as parents that do whatever they can to make sure their kid encounters no obstacles -- including paying $1.2 million in bribes to get them into college -- has it.
• Parents who take their kid out of school to train as tennis players full time, even when they've never won a tournament, have it. Have you ever done the math on what it takes to make a living in tennis?
• I'd like to think that anyone who becomes famous and gets a reality show based only on the fact that they released a sex tape has this syndrome, but somehow the individual and her family in question are worth billions. Therefore, they probably know a lot more than I do about how to become successful. In this case, we have the syndrome and they are actually geniuses. It's situational I guess.

Post your thoughts here about who else has this syndrome. My wife sometimes thinks I do, and I credit my business school for teaching me to speak with confidence about complex things even when I know nothing about them. She's probably right.

Maybe we all have a little Dunning-Kruger effect in us. Maybe that's why no one wants to listen to anyone else anymore when it comes to politics, the environment, and even science. When we all have confidence and not competence -- especially about complex issues that almost no human can fully grasp, and especially people in power -- we place our society at some risk.