One thing that I’ve learned over time is that you can never know – or be good at – everything. There just aren’t enough hours in the day. Everyone has a few things that they concentrate on and really excel at. The key to a successful project is to have the right combination of those people. If everyone is good at the same things, they will be tripping all over each other. When I build a team, I look first and foremost for wicked smart people, and I try to find ones that have had all different types of experiences. I also I look for people who can work with others, but that’s a topic for another post.
How do you determine who is really smart versus someone who is a poser? Sometimes it isn’t easy. There are a lot of people who talk smart, but when the rubber hits the road they can’t get things done. Really smart people can apply what they know in a practical way. They also learn more from their mistakes than their successes. The fact that they are willing to acknowledge their mistakes is a big part of being smart. Some people never make mistakes – all of the problems they encounter are blamed on external forces outside of their own control. Other people never make mistakes because they never put their ideas into practice. Philosophizing about the best way to do something without actually trying it out isn’t a good way to get smarter.
I like working with people who I consider to be smarter than I am in their area of expertise. As a leader I don’t need to know all of the technical details of a project. Heck, I might not even understand all of it. That’s ok. I’ve got someone who does working for me. It’s really great if they know what they know – and even better if they know what they don’t know. That provides an opportunity for another expert to be involved – or it provides an opportunity for growth and learning.
What is not being smart:
- Going to the right school or getting the right degree and considering education as “completed”.
- Having a very strong opinion without being able to see other options.
- Being firmly rooted by experience. i.e. – this worked before it will work again.
What is being smart:
- Curiosity about the world and how it works. Striving to learn something new everyday.
- Having a strong opinion, but also having a willingness to listen to new ideas.
- Using experience as a basis for creativity – this worked before – how can we make it even better?
