Know-What-You-Don't-Know Loop
Map knowledge gaps, recruit expertise, and learn through focused questions
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 97%
The loop starts by separating the capabilities you already possess from the domain knowledge you lack. Instead of hiding the gap, define it precisely and use questions, research, and specialist recruitment to close it. Transferable strengths—such as understanding people, analyzing numbers, or building teams—provide the foundation, while subject-matter experts supply missing context. The leader then integrates those inputs into decisions and remains open to discovering further unknowns. This mechanism reduces overconfidence while allowing action in unfamiliar territory. It also scales with responsibility: every expanded mandate creates new gaps, so the leader repeats the process rather than assuming that success in one field automatically confers expertise in another.
Origin
Jose Minaya described using intellectual humility and expert teams when moving from private credit into farmland, natural resources, broader private markets, and later unfamiliar areas such as tokenization and custody.
Core principles
- 01Treat awareness of ignorance as a strength
- 02Ask questions before asserting expertise
- 03Recruit people who know what you do not
- 04Combine transferable skills with specialist knowledge
- 05Keep learning after reaching seniority
How to run it
- 1
Define the required outcome
Clarify what must be built, decided, or delivered before studying the unfamiliar domain. A concrete outcome keeps learning focused.
Pro tip Describe success in operational terms rather than saying only that you need to understand the topic.
Watch out Learning without a defined decision can become endless research.
- 2
Inventory your knowledge
Separate relevant strengths from assumptions and genuine gaps. Explicitly identify which unknowns could invalidate the decision.
Pro tip Write down both known unknowns and assumptions that still require verification.
Watch out Past success can make adjacent domains appear more familiar than they are.
- 3
Ask focused questions
Use specialists to test assumptions, explain mechanisms, and expose risks. Continue until you can connect their knowledge to the intended outcome.
Pro tip Ask experts what newcomers most commonly misunderstand.
Watch out Do not mistake familiarity with terminology for mastery.
- 4
Recruit complementary expertise
Bring in people whose knowledge exceeds yours in the areas that matter. Give them enough authority and tools to influence execution.
Pro tip Hire for the specific gaps identified in the inventory.
Watch out Recruiting smart people is ineffective if the leader ignores their judgment.
- 5
Integrate and repeat
Combine specialist knowledge with your transferable capabilities, execute, and review what the work revealed. Begin another loop whenever the mandate expands.
Pro tip Update the knowledge inventory after important decisions or milestones.
Watch out Do not assume that closing one gap eliminates uncertainty elsewhere.
In the wild
Minaya was managing a large private-credit portfolio when he explored farmland during nights and weekends. He recognized that, as a New York City native, he lacked agricultural expertise, so he learned the field and assembled the knowledge and people needed to build the capability. The operation eventually became a leading institutional farmland platform.
→ An unfamiliar asset class became a scalable institutional investment business.
After joining BNY, Minaya did not present himself as an expert in tokenization or custody. He relied on experts within the firm while applying what he did understand: the technology mattered to clients and could differentiate global service through faster settlement.
→ Specialist knowledge was translated into a client-relevant strategic advantage.
Common mistakes
Pretending expertise
Hiding uncertainty prevents the questions and specialist input needed to make a sound decision.
Hiring copies of yourself
A team composed only of people with the leader's existing strengths leaves the original knowledge gaps intact.
Learning without an outcome
Broad exploration consumes time unless it is anchored to a capability, decision, or client need.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for leaders taking on new asset classes, technologies, markets, or organizational responsibilities.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when immediate execution is required and no qualified expertise can be accessed in time.
From the transcript
“you've got to be really good at knowing what you don't know.”
“not being intimidated by bringing people around you that are smarter than you.”
“I'm not an expert on tokenization. I'm not an expert on custody.”
From the episode
BNY's Jose Minaya on How AI Is Transforming Asset Management
Jose Minaya