Just say "I don't know"

It's okay to say "I don't know", especially when it's followed by "but I can try [specific things that demonstrates you know how to approach the problem]".

There's a lot of advice out there, particularly on social media, suggesting that admitting uncertainty is unprofessional. This mindset probably comes from people who've spent years perfecting the art of appearing knowledgeable rather than actually building genuine expertise — now they are using their "experience" to gather clout while propagating that crap.

Chances are, if you're an employee, whatever that's asked of you needs to be done by you anyway. So by not saying "I don't know" up front is the same as giving false hope right off the bat, and the person who will suffer the most in the end is you. For the same reason, people who are used to avoid saying "I don't know" up front have two options to interpret anything that doesn't start with "I don't know":

And given how those social media posts are telling everyone to avoid saying "I don't know", it's pretty clear which interpretation they'll lean towards.

So here's a simple solution: just say "I don't know." (with a full stop) if you don't know, and start with "I don't know" if you are not sure but you have confidence in your ability to figure it out. And if that doesn't work after you have really tried? Just go somewhere else that appreciates you more because the people you report to, directly or indirectly, are probably cowards.

Let's build workplaces where "I don't know, but I'll find out" is recognised as a sign of integrity rather than weakness. We can learn, grow, and be so much more productive when we all stop pretending to know everything and ask others to do the same.