Smartest leaders

This Brightest Cat demonstrates how to appear condescending. For all those moments when you think you’re the smartest in the room.

You’ve always been the smartest kid.

You understood things more readily, you solved problems quicker than others did. You may not have had the best grades in school, but you knew stuff your peers didn’t. Your incredible brain power carried you through education with ease, and you always got what you wanted.

Then you got your first job. You were really good at it. You were so brilliant, that you kept outperforming all the others. This got you promoted. Your new manager was a bit dense, but so were many other people around you. This actually made things easier, as you could truly shine and impress everyone with how much you knew and understood. You even impressed your boss’s boss (who you thought was bright, but didn’t really “get it”) — so much that you got promoted again. And so it went.

Now you’re solving really complex problems. You were entrusted with them because of your intellectual brilliance. You’re really important. You’re really smart.

You’re likely working with, or managing, other talented people. While they’re certainly talented, they’re obviously not as smart as you are.

Or are they? Would you even know?

Chances are, that you didn’t realize that somewhere along the way you stopped being the smartest kid. And it’s not because you’re no longer a kid.

Having very high IQ has this downside, that frequently throughout your life, you are more intelligent than other people who are in the room with you. It’s something you get used to. And when you get used to it, you forget about it. And when you forget about it, you just assume that this other person is not as smart as you are. And then you treat them like they’re stupid. The thing is, when you treat people like they’re stupid, they tend to act stupid. Especially if you’re their manager.

If you care about the work you do, you really don’t want your coworkers to act stupid.

So next time, when you’re receiving a meeting in your cozy office, or when you’re explaining your brilliant idea to your team, or when you’re hearing that disappointing status report yet again, pause for a moment. Do you still think of yourself as the smartest kid? Do you still think your mind is the most brilliant in this conversation? And if so, if you didn’t hire people who are at least as intelligent and resourceful as yourself, then are you really all that smart?

The smartest leaders are rarely the smartest person in the room.