I am really scared of one situation - that I am the smartest guy in my circle. Fortunately that will never happen. Every person I meet has something unique and great in him, that I wish I could have.
Reason - the person stops growing if he or she is the smartest guy in the group.
I don't mind being the dumbest guy, because that means I will also keep learning all the time and hence keep improving all the time.
In real world things are neither black or white , so I may not be dumbest or the brightest guy in the circle. But if I feel that i am the smartest ass around, I have dug my grave. And as you go up the promotion chance, the chances of the false ego would creep in. Remember fatigue creep in material science class.
The problem with being the dumbest guy in the group is that if others think just like you, then they would not want to be with you. But as long as you have a competitive advantage - economies of nations style - you would have always something to give in exchange. Plus some of the smartest guys need to feed their ego by sharing knowledge or they really want to share knowledge selflessly. In any case you have something to offer them - an audience.
Let me narrate a story of a frog who was dumped into boiling water. It croaked and jumped out. And the other frog died - it was kept in cold water and the temperature slowly increased. And the frog adjusted to its environment till it boiled over. This is what would happen as one gets promoted and is not wary of the temperature of the incompetency increasing.
So as a leader how many of us have actually used other people's brains. The word should be "Leverage". A very powerful world.
Some philosopher said give me a lever long enough and I can use the moon as a fulcrum and move the earth out of its orbit.
Have you identified your levers of change? They are there with you, reporting to you.
My Training JCO Paras Nath knew the names of all 2000 recruits and their profiles - village names, personal problems, games they played, etc. What wouldn't I give to be blessed with that intelligence.
As an officer did I leverage his unique skills is the question?
Question time: What skills are you surrounded by and how have you used them to your advantage?
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