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Knowledge Management

What is an Unknown Unknown?

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An unknown unknown is knowledge that you don't know exists that would be useful to you. This is potentially a dangerous situation as you can't incorporate this unknown information in decision making or prepare to research it. The following are hypothetical examples.
An investor who is completely unaware of business cycles buys a stock that is in a cyclical industry that is near the end of its business cycle.
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A swimmer who is unaware that rip currents exist goes swimming at a beach with a strong rip current.
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A firm purchases a predictive analytics tool and begins to use it without any awareness of data science or statistical analysis.

Known Unknowns

Knowing that you don't know something is useful information that can be used in decision making or as a starting point for research. For example, a swimmer who knows that riptides exist but can't remember how they work or how to escape them may be cautious at a new beach with large waves.
Overview: Unknown Unknown
Type
Definition
Being unaware that a particular type of knowledge exists.
Mitigation
Discovering what types of knowledge exist as a starting point.
Related Concepts

Knowledge Management

This is the complete list of articles we have written about knowledge management.
A Posteriori
A Priori
Anti Information
Artifact
Artificial Knowledge
Body Of Knowledge
Classification
Corporate Memory
Data
Disinformation
Dispersed Knowledge
Document Control
Document Quality
Domain Knowledge
Information Asymmetry
Information Management
Information Pollution
Knowledge Analysis
Knowledge Audit
Knowledge Discovery
Knowledge Loss
Knowledge Measurement
Knowledge Processes
Knowledge Quality
Knowledge Risk
Knowledge Transfer
Knowledge Value
Knowledge Velocity
Knowledge Waste
Knowledge Work
Known Unknowns
Master Copy
Meta Knowledge
Outside Context Problem
Permalink
Propositional Knowledge
Situated Knowledge
Storytelling
Tacit Knowledge
Unknown Unknown
More ...
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Types Of Knowledge

The differences between types of knowledge.

Curse Of Knowledge

Why experts have trouble communicating.

Tacit Knowledge

Knowledge that escapes documentation.

Disinformation vs Anti-Information

Two types of broken knowledge.

Knowledge Work

A definition of knowledge work with examples.

Information vs Knowledge

The difference between information and knowledge.

Expert Generalist

A definition of expert generalist with an example.

Qualitative Data

A definition of qualitative data with examples.

Objective vs Subjective

The difference between objective and subjective.

Knowledge Value

A definition of knowledge value with examples.

Risk Management

An overview of the risk management process.

Cascading Failure vs Resilience

An overview of cascading failure and resilience.

Business As Usual

An overview of business as usual.

Risk Mitigation

A list of techniques for reducing risk.

Risk Mitigation vs Risk Reduction

The difference between risk mitigation and risk reduction.

Risk Control

A list of common risk controls.

Risk Value

A definition of risk value with example calculation.

Risk Impact

The common types of risk impact.

Risk Communication

A definition of risk communication with examples.

Risk Management Process

Overview of the steps in a risk management process.
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