Humility and Continuous Learning, Never be the “smartest person” in the room
the sooner you learn, the sooner you’ll benefit
Some time ago, actress Emma Stone’s performance in “Infinity Class” was a hot topic. She can quickly memorize lines, perform accurately, and can quickly get into comedy that she has never been exposed to before. When the instructors spoke, she always listened with an open mind and quickly internalized; when her companions were out of shape and laughing and joking, she was not like other captains who only lost their temper. Instead, she patiently helped the actors in the same group to order the words and gave her suggestions. Not only did the instructors keep praising her, but the crew also praised her because she would help clean up after the filming and was very polite to every staff member.
Many people say that she is not a first-line actress in Hollywood, but in this show, she has a dimensionality reduction in terms of professional ability and character quality. In the popular film“La La Land,” Mia Dolan, played by Emma Stone, is a girl who has means and wants to get ahead. But in life, Emma Stone said: “I have no means, only hard work.” She is always learning from better people and never wants to be number one. It is exactly in response to this sentence: “The most clumsy in the world can beat the most skillful in the world.”
I deeply believe that true wisdom is never a little cleverness, but a great wisdom.
1. Low-level intelligence is more terrifying than stupidity
The old man said: “Great wisdom knows where to stop, but small wisdom is about planning.”
You may be able to be successful for a while by relying on small cleverness, but after all, it is not a long-term solution. The more small calculations, the more hidden dangers there will be, and the harder the road ahead will be.
Indeed, there are too many people in life who think they are smart, but in the end, they do stupid things one after another.
Jobs once said: “I especially like to associate with smart people because I don’t have to consider their dignity.”
The interviewer asked him: “Don’t smart people have dignity?”
Jobs added: “No, smart people focus more on their own growth and always keep an open mind, rather than defending face and trying to prove ‘I’m right’.”
Marie is what Steve Jobs calls a “smart guy.”
She worked her way from a small assistant to the chairman of Metrics by never being the smartest person in the room.
She had only worked as an assistant for Daniela for one year, and the friendship was not very deep, but she did not want to cut off the contact just like that, because she felt that contacting Daniela would open a window to the workplace knowledge.
Therefore, when Daniela disbanded the company, she decisively ran to Frankfurt at her own expense and asked her best friend Rui Xiaodan to help take care of Daniela. With this favor, the connection between the two would not be broken.
Marie’s conditions are not bad. She is good-looking and well-educated. It is normal for her to feel a little jealous when facing her equally excellent colleague Rui Xiaodan, but she has never done it.
She sincerely admires the advantages of others and is good at making use of other people’s resources.
There is a good saying: “A fool thinks he is smart, but a wise man knows himself.”
In life, those who are truly smart are low-key and never boast about themselves to others, let alone promote themselves.
They usually behave in a low-key manner, do things in a high-profile manner, and finally accumulate a lot of achievements.
2. Really smart people all look stupid
“A truly smart person should not let others see his intelligence. A wise man is pragmatic, while a fool strives for a false reputation.”
I heard a story about the dispute between 1 yuan and 5 jiao, which inspired me a lot:
I heard a story about the dispute between 1 yuan and 5 jiao, which inspired me a lot:
One day, a homeless man came to the town. No one thought that this stupid homeless man could survive in this town.
It all depends on his great wisdom and foolishness — —
The residents of the town saw him being silly and often played with him as a fool, trying their best to make fun of him and make fun of him.
The most common method everyone uses is to put a 1 yuan coin and a 50 cent coin on the ground and let him choose. Seeing him rush to get the 50-cent coin, everyone laughs at him for being stupid.
The homeless man could encounter this kind of thing several times a day. At most, he experienced it more than 20 times a day.
This money is enough for him to have enough food and clothing, and as time goes by, he can still have a little balance.
Finally one day, an old woman couldn’t stand the ridicule of the homeless people and said to him: “Are you unable to tell their sizes? Then let me tell you, the ones that cost 1 yuan are as big as yours in the future. With a 1 yuan coin, no one will laugh at you for being stupid.
Unexpectedly, the tramp refused without thinking. He winked slyly and said:
“I make a living from this. If I take 1 yuan, who will play this kind of game with me in the future? Doesn’t this mean I’m cutting off my own money?”
The woman was shocked and immediately speechless.
After experiencing more things, you will find:
Some people’s confidence comes from the knowledge of “I have it all figured out” and the strength of “I have it all”, while some people’s confidence comes only from “I don’t know” and “I don’t want to know.”
A person with high talent should not be arrogant, a person with high status should not be arrogant. The more powerful a person is, the more he knows how to put himself down.
3. Never be the smartest person in the room
When Dell boss Michael Dell gave a speech at his alma mater, students asked: “What habits allowed you to build the world’s largest personal computer company from scratch?”
Dale responded: “Never be the smartest person in the room.”
He explained:
“My foundation was very poor at the beginning, but it didn’t matter. I just stayed with classmates with good grades. Their learning methods and thinking habits can guide me to become better.
Later, when I felt that I could not get more from the people around me, I chose to drop out of school and start a business and learned from managers of outstanding companies in the industry such as HP and Apple. “
There is a paragraph of advice from a superior and a subordinate, which makes me feel deeply every time I read it:
Listen, Chuck, I’m going to explain something to you, your job and responsibility is to make your client think he’s the smartest guy in the room.
If you have any extra energy after completing this task, you should use it to make your senior partner look like the second-smartest person in the room.
Only after fulfilling these two obligations can you express yourself.
There is a spotlight effect in psychology:
If all the lights are focused on you, you will not be able to see anything clearly, and the surroundings will be dark; but when you are not the most dazzling person, you can use the lights to see everything around you.
Therefore, you will find that the more outstanding people are, the more they want to stay with better people; and the more ignorant people are, the more they like to find a sense of superiority among a group of rookies.
“The most taboo thing in life is to be the best in the world, because the world in your eyes may only be the bottom of a well in the eyes of others.”
There are too many so-called smart people in this world, but in the end, they are all smart but misunderstood.
On the contrary, if you learn to keep a low profile, know how to hide your clumsiness, be as wise as a fool, and keep a low profile, you may win your whole life.
I hope that for the rest of our lives, we all have the strength to be the first, but we also dare to be the last.
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