Mini Episode 18 - Why does everyone think they're great drivers?

Marcie from Docklands wants to know why we we're all racing laps like Ricciardo.

Dan: (00:17))
What's up and welcome back to another episode of bad decisions. I'm your host, Dan Monheit co-founder of Hardhat. And if you're listening, you probably know the deal by now, this week's question submitted from Marcie in Docklands, Marcie, what you got

Marcie: (00:30)
This morning on my drive to work. I got cut off twice and saw someone run through a red light without even noticing why does everyone think they're such great drivers?

Dan: (00:40)
All right, come on, Marcie. This is an easy one. It's a, because they are

Dan: (00:46)
Okay. No, but for real look in my experience, there really are only two types of drivers in the world. There are those who think that they're better than everyone else and the 20 or so professional formula, one drivers who went up to around 75 million bucks a year, driving a car around a track with no traffic lights and no need to park, who probably are slightly better than everybody else. While little confidence can go a long way. My own confidence in year 10 mathematics. Thank you very much. Mr. Wosy tells me that we can't all be above drivers now, can we Marcie as we all know too well, the world is littered with these experts. You know, I mean, there's Becky from accounts who watched one episode of Q and a, and is now the leading thinker on Australia's foreign trade policy. You probably have like a friend's brother, Phil who played 11 games of football in high school.

Dan: (01:28)
And he is adamant he could do a better job coaching the doggies this season. And of course the worst and also best of them, Lawrence. And I do love you dear Lawrence, but everyone's got a Lawrence in their life who took a three hour wine appreciation course in 2009. And is now everyone's resident sommelier, you know, my family's not even immune my gorgeous son. Uh, all of nine years old is convinced that he's gonna make the NBA given that he's and I quote you already the third best shooter in his class. Right? And I believe in you, boy, I believe in you. So let's sit down Marciebuckle up and get ready for a ride on the humility highway. Because what we are looking at today is the Dunin Kruger effect. Now the Dunin Kruger effect states that people with low levels of proficiency tend to overestimate their ability to perform a task.

Dan: (02:13)
At the same time, those who are highly proficient, tend to sell themselves short. So the theory goes that when you're completely new at something, you suck so bad that you don't even realize all the different ways that you suck. And then as you get better and better, you start to recognize how much more there actually is to know causing you to feel that in reality, you know, pretty much nothing at all. So research conducted in 2003 by the Dunning and the Kruger are students who recently finished an exam to rate how well they thought they did in comparison to their peers, by mapping the students, actual scores against how well they thought they'd fed that in Kruger made a discovery. The students who bombed the test generally overestimated their ability compared to others. While the star students with top marks, massively underestimated how well they'd done, essentially, the less they knew, the more confident they were.

Dan: (03:00)
You can see how this is gonna end badly, right? In today's world of vigorous online debates, the Dunning Kruger effect is what keeps the idiots loud and proud while the experts sit back, observe, stay quiet and wonder if they really know enough to offer an opinion. When it comes to driving, we all know enough to be dangerous, especially early on it. Doesn't take long to get the hang of things, right? If you remember, it's like this pedal is go, that pedal is stop. You turn the wheel a little bit. Don't forget to check the mirrors. And you're pretty much driving, especially if you grow up playing Daytona like I did. In reality, though, we barely scratch the surface of what it takes to be a truly proficient driver. Add in a little torrential rain, some tram tracks, a hook turn, and a reverse parallel park on a steep incline.

Dan: (03:41)
And we'll soon find out what's what, as advertising sales and marketing folk, we're often pitching to people whose confidence to competence ratio is way out of whack when confronted with a premature expert to somebody really on, in their journey, who kind of thinks they know it, all the plays to slowly, gently, respectfully offer guidance and information that will help them realize there might be more to consider here than they'd realized. So you might do that by offering a personal anecdote, you know, like, oh, well let me tell you, ask me way too much on my first bike or throwing them an open ended question. Like, so what style of cycling is your go to things like these are your best weapon for building trust and sitting the foundations for a mutually beneficial long term relationship. On the other hand, if you're talking to the chronically under confident, those people who actually are highly proficient, but just constantly doubt themselves, what you can do is offer reassurance and bridges between what they know they know and where you want them to go.

Dan: (04:34)
So, you know, you could say, look, if you can count to eight, you can learn the harmonica, helping prospects realize that they've already got the skills, the knowledge and the ability to take the next step can have them heading for the checkout with confidence. So that is all for this week. Marcie, hopefully that shines a light on why everybody thinks they're a great driver and look, I'm sure you actually legitimately really and truly are, but it's good to know that not everybody else is. So if you have got other questions about weird and wonderful human behaviours that you have observed, please shoot 'em through to me. You can hit me up at askdan@hardhat.com.au or all over the internet at Dan Monheit. We'll catch you next time.