The Smartest Person in the Room
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase before, or maybe the contrarian view of it, “I’m not the smartest person in the room, but...” or “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room.”
It’s an interesting phrase, right? Because most of us know that anyone who might declare that they are the “smartest person in the room” will indeed now look and most likely act like they are not that person. Anyone who has lived enough life knows that an IQ test is not the only determining factor for being smart. In today’s workplace, and just in general social situations, your level of intellect includes how much you know as well as who you know, how well can you relate to others, your “Emotional Quotient”, your ability to be flexible, how you manage people, how easily you are managed, do you get your work done on time and so on.
I don’t know that I ever thought I was the smartest person in a room but I have certainly felt the weight of leadership in a room. Where all eyes were looking to me for answers whether I had a good one or not! Sometimes I succeeded. Sometimes I failed.
But as a leader grows, they begin to be able to look at a room full of people and see that each and every person in that room brings value into that group of people and certainly to the larger organization. Several years ago, I took a quote from John Maxwell and made it personal to me. John was speaking on how he wanted to add value to a conversation, to a person, to a group of people. I started thinking how profound that is.
If we can understand our own value to a group of people, we can also begin understanding how others bring value as well. I have found that more often than not, what others bring is very different than what I bring. And that is the beauty of a team. That is the beauty of a room full of people understanding that as individuals they are not the smartest (or most well liked, the best at leadership, in the C-suite because they deserve it, the best manager, etc) in the room. Rather, they have added value to another individual that day. They have added value to a team or organization.
And with that, you can hang your hat on what leadership is really all about. When you feel the weight of being a leader, look around the room and understand that you are bringing something to the table that no one else is able to that day, but so is everyone else. And when you work together, the value you add is multiplied over and over again.