I’ve always thought that I wanted to work for people that were as smart or smarter than I was.
Someone who could stretch and challenge my mental muscles so I could become even more valuable to the organizations where I worked. I could be the leader or I could be the subordinate, as long as I felt that my contributions were visible, acknowledged, and seen as “smart”.
“Smart” was what I was always looking for in job satisfaction.
What I’ve learned in my 30+ years of experience is that I must look at this view of “smart” in team / team-leader dynamics differently. This “smart” thinking sometimes felt like it was threatening to leadership and some subordinates.
I now understand that my interpretation of the word “smart” doesn’t necessarily = more EDUCATION or more EXPERIENCE (the engineer in me loves math equations!).
In the “NEW” real world, SMART comes in various shapes and colors, etc.
– SMART doesn’t have a sexual preference, # of years of experience, degree, race, culture, or gender.
– SMART from somewhere unexpected shouldn’t be viewed as a threat but as a newly discovered advantage.
– SMART can come from an eager new employee that is brave enough to say they have a better idea instead of trying to make sense of something that doesn’t make sense.
– SMART can come from an experienced employee who feels his voice hasn’t been heard in a decade but just can’t stay quiet anymore and just do his job and get along.
Consider this when you are trying to understand those you work with whether they are male, female, of color or not, baby-boomers, gen-xr’s or Millenials, analytical, informal, extroverted or introverted personalities, etc.
Stay open-minded and inviting and focus yourself and your team on what is “smart”. Make the definition of “smart” about what delivers the greatest value to the organization no matter who you are. And be smart and market it, share it and celebrate it!
“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships” – Michael Jordan