This came from two of the smartest people I know, my now almost eight year old nieces Brigid and Caroline, and I was reminded of it again during a drive to Athens, Georgia this week. It was a few years ago and they were being asked some question about something that kids should or shouldn’t know about; the color of the sky, naming a planet, how crayons are made; and their answer was simply…
“I had no idea.”
Now whether or not they actually learned something or were repeating a phrase they had heard from their parents, well, I have no idea. But the passion they said it with and the expression on their faces was a great reminder that we can always be learning.
So now in our classes; at Columbia, or The School of the New York Times for a few summers or in some of the other mentoring programs we do, or even this week talking to folks in and around The University of Georgia we start with a simple question to get the storytelling ideas flowing…
“I had no idea that…”
Everyone gets a chance to talk about what they had learned in the past few days, from interesting trivia to big picture ideas, but it serves as a great tho8ught starter and chance to rest, and it is a great little suggestion which I have taken upon myself to try and keep moving the learning needle forward every day. Maybe you write down a little factoid, or think back on the train or the bus about something that you picked up that day that you literally had no idea about…why did baseball go by the Disabled list for years vs the injured list…why does the 2 train doors open at the opposite side at 34 street vs all other stops…how many members of the cabinet are there and why…and on and on. This week we tried to figure out how many Cracker Barrel’s or Waffle Houses there were between the NJ Turpike and Athens…why? It made you think…
That level of curiosity in learning also helps you stay relevent. That came through in another reminder this past week while reading the Corner Office piece on yes, Snoop Dogg in the NY Times Business Section. “I HAD NO IDEA YEARS AGO SNOOP WOULD BE A MASTER MARKETER.” We have written a few times about Snoop’s growth, which is often tied to his vision of staying cultyrally relevant, and that starts with learning…I had no idea…
The beauty of the digital world we live in today is that many of the answers are at our fingertips, just seconds away, but even if we don’t have to ask anyone, we can use “I had no idea” as a little mental floss to see the progress we may down the line.
Just a little idea to help the storytelling, brought to you by two eight year olds…
Onward!
