The one skill that all internal auditors must have that no one talks about
Negative Capability
Key Skills in Internal Audit
Richard Chambers recently interviewed ChatGPT. If you didn’t see his interview article you should check it out here.
ChatGPT did a good job responding to queries about internal audit. One of Richard’s questions that particularly interested me was the following:
“What is the most important skill for an internal auditor?”
ChatGPT’s answer was solid: Critical thinking. I agree with our non-human friend here. Critical thinking is the most important skill for an internal auditor, with communication and interpersonal skills following close behind.
No surprises here. We’ve all heard of the importance of these skills. However, there is an often-overlooked skill that you likely never heard about:
Negative capability.
What is negative capability?
Coined by 18th-century British poet John Keats, Negative Capability is “when [someone] is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.”
In this auditor’s simple mind negative capability is knowing that you don’t know everything and being ok with that. I want to be clear that I’m not advocating for throwing the towels in as soon as you can’t get the information you need. Instead, I’m referring to those instances in a project when we have gathered most, if not all, of the necessary data, yet some areas remain unclear. We don't always have all the answers.
Why is negative capability important?
In a nutshell, it makes us more collaborative and leads to better-refined solutions.
Have you ever worked with a know-it-all?
I have, and they are not fun to work with.
Working with someone who is always questioning the why, and sincerely wanting to understand more, paves the way for unique and creative opportunities.
Better still, working with someone who is humble enough to admit that they don’t know it all is a breath of fresh air.