There are many magic phrases — classics such as 'abracadabra', 'please', or 'open sesame' — but I think possibly the most practical (as far as a professional toolbox goes) has to be 'I don't know'.
There is an almost mystical power to humility. In a world where everyone is trying to make out like they have all the answers, have it together, have it, admitting that you don't has both a shock value associated with it, and signals that you're not here to be about your own ego1.
And when you're not about your own ego, you unlock the power of an open mind, and you get a +5 bonus to your reputation score when people are deciding who is going to be willing to help them out with a particularly gnarly problem or with finding that piece of information that's blocking them (but feels like a stupid question to ask). People like it when you don't make them feel stupid for not knowing something, especially when you don't know it either.
Not knowing something is the first step in the process of obtaining knowledge. Unknown unknowns2 are one of life's greatest hazards3, and the first step in mitigating them is to convert an unknown unknown into a known unknown. Once you know you don't know a thing, only then can you work to manage it.
Say 'I don't know'. Admit your mistakes. Become the person that people know they can go to when they need help: someone who knows how to learn things.
This post is in the spirit of Jim Nielsen's Blogging Can Just Be Stating The Obvious.
Footnotes
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The only thing worse than a big ego is someone else having a big ego. ↩
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Along with the related concept in the psychology field of the Johari window. ↩
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I speak specifically from a Software Engineering perspective, but this extends well beyond that. The medical field goes to great lengths to minimise the information they don't have, because a surprise anaesthetic allergy can throw a massive spanner in the works when you're mid-operation. ↩