There are two types of ignorance: Deliberate Ignorance and Understandable Ignorance.
Understandable Ignorance
A non-financial expert is not expected to know how to calculate discounted cash flow valuations for publicly listed firms. A European is not expected to know how baseball scoring works. A non-programmer is not expected to understand the syntax of C++ or php code. These are cases of Understandable Ignorance.
Deliberate Ignorance
If you work in marketing, you must know the basics. If you work in finance, there are some basics that you must know. If you are a programmer you must understand code syntax, optimal code, unit test, system test. If you manage people, there are some lessons you owe it to your team to know.
As Seth Godin says “People have come before us, failed, learned, written it down. Scientists have figured out what works, and proven it. Economists have gained significant understanding about the long-term impacts of short-term decisions. And historians have seen it all before.”
It is not a company’s responsibility to ensure that you are aware of the basic concepts and important developments in your field. It is your own.
What are your thoughts?