The slogans we tell ourselves shape our actions and mindset. The common adage to surround yourself with smart people, aka “be the dumbest person in the room”, has some merit. You are prompting yourself to listen, to learn, to ask clarifying questions. These are all valuable actions. But this mindset can also hold you back in some situations. If you identify as the dumbest person in the room, it can be harder to lead, to push back, to leverage your full expertise.
Think about which mindset will serve you best in a given situation and adopt it. If you have adopted a “dumbest” mindset, that takes humility. Switching to a “smartest” mindset can feel like the opposite of humility, it can feel like arrogance. This is the paradox of great leadership. How do you thread the needle between pushing your own ideas and remaining humble and open to input? The best leaders do both well and in the right balance.
One of my favorite illustrations of this concept is what occasionally happens on major escalation calls. There will be a round of introductions by managers and senior leaders from all parties involved. Inevitably, the turn will come to a single engineer. “I’m the one who is here fix the issue”, they reply.