Knowing Is Not Doing: Education Isn’t Enough in Leadership

Why Knowledge Alone Won’t Make You a Leader — Only Action Will

Here’s the truth Google Discover readers respond to: knowing is not doing — and leadership requires both. You can be the smartest person in the room and still fall short if your knowledge never turns into action.

Knowing Is Not Doing — And Leaders Must Understand the Difference

We love smart, don’t we? If you dress well (look smart), use all the latest buzzwords (sound smart), and show off your degrees and certificates (seem smart), you may have a better chance at a promotion. Smart sells — but that kind of smart is the knowing, and it simply isn’t enough.

Anyone ever have a boss who could talk leadership but could never do leadership?

When we consult with organizations preparing for promotions, we emphasize the importance of “doing smart.” That means asking:

• What projects has the candidate completed?

• Do they build positive relationships?

• Have they grown individuals and teams?

• Have they improved processes—or even tried?

These questions quickly separate the knowers from the doers, and that difference determines who will move your business forward.

Education Is Essential—But It’s Only the First Step

Are we slamming education? Absolutely not. Education is the foundation. It’s the bedrock of excellence. But it’s only the beginning.

If knowledge isn’t applied within six months, research shows most of it is lost.

Education becomes wasted potential. Which raises the bigger issue:

The Real Problem Isn’t Knowing vs Doing — It’s Culture vs Values

Most organizations say they value growth, innovation, and learning. But their culture often says:

“Oh… we don’t do that here.”

Picture the employee who goes to training, comes back energized, ready to improve something meaningful — and immediately hits the cultural wall:

• Mistakes aren’t tolerated

• Innovation is risky

• Trying something new might threaten their job

• Managers prefer “the way we’ve always done it”

So when organizational values collide with organizational culture, values almost always lose.

And the knowing never becomes doing.

Leaders Must Connect Education to Action

At LIA, every class comes with work attached — reflection, application, or a project. Why? Because education isn’t enough. To grow, you must DO. Leaders, that means:

• Send people to training with an end goal

• Assign a project for them to complete afterward

• Ask them to improve a process

• Have them teach others what they learned

But above all else:

THEY MUST DO.

Knowledge only becomes leadership through action.

Knowledge creates potential — but action creates results. If you want to transform what you know into meaningful, measurable progress, the key is learning how to make decisions confidently, even when circumstances aren’t perfect. Our Decision-Making Under Uncertainty workbook helps you put your learning into action through real-world frameworks and practical exercises that build decisive, forward-moving leadership.