Can you guess what the three hardest words in the English language are? Maybe "I love you?" What about, "I trust you." Well, in their book Think Like a Freak, the guys at Freakonomics share their findings. The three hardest words: “I don't know.”

Author Steve Levitt says, "I could count on one hand the number of occasions in which someone in a company, in front of their boss, on a question that they might possibly have ever been expected to know the answer, has said 'I don't know.' Within the business world, there's a general view that your job is to be an expert. And no matter how much you have to fake or how much you are making it up that you just should give an answer and hope for the best afterwards."

James daSilva picks up on this theme as well on SmartBrief. James was attending the Milken Institute Global Conference and for the first time he heard a high-ranking CEO say "I don't know" in a panel discussion. Mickey Drexler, CEO of J. Crew, twice in the discussion said "I don't know" when talking about the future. James concludes, " … saying 'I don't know' doesn't have to be so scary … More of us should acknowledge that we cannot reliably predict the future. Other times, 'I don't know' is a welcome acknowledgement of the complexity and contextual problems in life."

Possible Preaching Angle:

What questions have you answered that you didn't really know the answer to? Being more honest with each other when we don't have the answer can lead to healthier relationships and living. Sometimes those three hardest words are the best ones we can say.