"You Don't Get It, Do You?"

It was the spring of 2009, and to use a phrase I've used many times since then, "I don't know what I don't know."

Only back then... I didn't even know that.

To set the stage: I was a financial-services reporter, and we were in the throes of the worst?financial crisis since the Great Depression. There was intense pressure?to report?on?how banks and insurers were?adapting to the crisis?-- especially in Canada where financial services companies had performed particularly well to that point. Skeptics were waiting for Canada's "Cinderella story" to end, so we reporters were on high alert at all times to find even the smallest of cracks in the dam.

On this particular day, I was covering an event out of town?and had just posted an article after speaking to a prominent financial institution executive on how?they?were managing through the crisis. It wasn't a particularly negative story, and I wouldn't even categorize it as a game-changer. But it was an exclusive and I was proud of it.

As was my practice at the time, I emailed my article to a curated list of executives, investors, analysts and other industry participants as an FYI. Over the years, that list became a great excuse to work my contacts, and even solicited story ideas from time to time.

I vividly remember getting ready to pack up my laptop and other gear, as I had a plane to catch, when an incoming email caught my attention. It was someone from my distribution list replying to the article I'd just sent. He didn't work for this particular company and I'm fairly sure he didn't have a financial stake in it, either. Still, he was quick to point out that my article had missed the point.

Now.... as any reporter can tell you, your first instinct can often be to dismiss the negative feedback as "wrong." After all, you were in the room when the interview took place -- they weren't!

On my way to the airport, I listened the audio recording of my interview and listened to the comments again; if I've made a mistake, I'd be the first person to own up to it. So?I listened to the audio and was more convinced than ever that I was in the right. Besides, I'd written similar news before, in much the same style, and no one had ever told me it was wrong. So I fired off a polite but firm email to the critic, quite satisfied with my response that everything was factually correct.

About two hours later, I turned on my BlackBerry (for younger readers, I'm fairly sure that's what we used to call iPhones) as the plane began taxiing on the runway and impatiently checked my incoming emails. The one that caught my attention was from the person who earlier criticized my article. It was blunt and to the point:

You don't get it... do you?

Well, now I?had?to find out what he meant!?As soon as I collected my bags, I found out a somewhat-secluded section of the airport and called him. We talked for a good 20 minutes and I was very surprised at how the conversation played out.?

He wasn't being harsh or rude. And it wasn't that my article was wrong in the literal sense; I accurately reported on what the interview subject said. I didn't necessarily take anything out of context, either. But what I failed to grasp was?why?this person was saying what they did,?and the ramifications of what it may mean for the Canadian financial industry.

Based on my experience of covering this crisis, and how other stories had been written in the past, I thought I knew best.

Bottom line - I didn't.

That conversation gave me a great idea for a follow-up story (which, unfortunately, never quite saw the light of day). But more importantly, it gave me some great food for thought that I try to employ?still in a variety of problem-solving situations. Namely:

• Always value other people's perspectives.
• Be open to criticism.
• No matter how knowledgeable you are (or may think you are) and as good as your instincts may be.... there will always be others who have an equal or perhaps better viewpoint.
• Sometimes people share information not because they have skin in the game, but because they genuinely want to be helpful.
• Just because something has been done (or in my case, written) a certain way in the past, it doesn't mean that it will always be that way.

Oh, and... I don't know what I don't know.

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