10 ways you know you’re with smart people

Update: My blog has moved! Please come and visit me at Innovator Inside for my latest posts. 

1. They don’t talk as much as you, because they know they got smart by listening.

2. They know lots of things other than what they’re specialised in. Theirs is the gift of a broad mind, constantly fed with the stimulant of being interested in what everyone else is doing.

3. They juggle home, work and personal interests with dexterity and never fall back on the tired old refrain about “work life balance”. And when they’re juggling, they somehow manage to seem 100% engaged with what they’re doing, on all fronts simultaneously, even though you know they’re taking appropriate steps behind the scenes to make sure their lives are perfectly, serenely balanced.

4. They probably do social media. Not always, but probably. It is not only another chance to listen, but one they use to ensure they can feed their brains with things they otherwise wouldn’t have come across.

5. Even when things go very badly wrong, they’ll be smiling. Smart people never get ruffled because their smart brains present them with alternatives faster than the bad stuff can happen.

6. They know they are usually the smartest person in the room, but they don’t spend their time dwelling on that. Instead, they take it as a personal challenge to see if they can make everyone else the smartest person in the room too.

7. If they are managers, they will make every effort to get people smarter, more connected and more popular than them in their teams. They’re not threatened because they know that smartness is synergistic. They also make sure that their smart people get to look smarter than them for the same reason.

8. They have hidden skills that never get rolled out until they’re needed. They don’t have any need to show their full capabilities for reasons of proving they’re better than others. 

9. They may or may not have expensive educations. You’d never know, just by being with them unless you had their CV in front of you.

10. They never, ever, under any circumstances, make you look stupid, even though it would be easy to do so. They’ve learnt through bitted experience that the only thing that happens when you make someone look bad is you look bad yourself.

Comments

[Tim]

Add: They speak and write with proper grammar and syntax.

[James Gardner]

Tim,

Irritatingly, I am mildly dyslexic. I really try my hardest to make sure everything is perfect before i post, but often fail to catch everything. Sometimes it seems that I can't spot the errors till I read back a few days later.

Sorry about any mistakes.

[Simonster]

Simple; brilliant.

Subtly defines the differences between intellect, intelligence, cleverness and smart. I can visualise this as a ladder; "step off at rung number x", if you reach get past 10 your smart....wonder what defines you then?

[Toni Plana]

Brilliant. Smart comments for a smarter planet.
One more, for non English-speaking people:
11. They never pretend that they have understood everything when listening, or reading English blogs, but they understand enough to make sense of it, and rush to the dictionary to learn a few more words.

James, it is a pleasure to read you blog. Hope to see you some time in Barcelona, or elsewhere.
P.S. -today I learned the meaning of 'dexterity'

[JenRBoyd]

Well said. Your blog posts are awesome. Thanks for sharing!

[Different Tim]

I can think of a few people who would benefit from reading this ... Nicely put.

[James Gardner]

Gosh what is beyond smart, anyway? Extra Smart? :-)

[James Gardner]

Thank you all for your kind remarks on this post. I'm glad you've found it useful.

[James Gardner]

I definitely agree with you No. 11. Would love to catch up the next time I am down your way.

[Carol Jack]

Useful!
James, you posses the gift of understatement!
I spent a day with you last year pre DWP and have been reading your blogs ever since; they have changed the way I think!
It would be nice to catch up again.
Thank you!

Carol

[James Gardner]

Carol, I definitely recall the great day we spent together. I would love to catch up again if it suits you... am only across the river these days, so a meet up would be simple.

[[email protected]]

I have always believed that the most useful way to live and work is to demonstrate the desire to listen not to talk, to draw out conversation and to revel in others contribution. These 10 points illustrate this perfectly.

[Don]

"They know they are usually the smartest person in the room"

Apparently you are unaware of the Dunning-Kruger effect? I'm tempted to call BS on this list because it is nothing more than unsupported personal opinions.

[Darren Scott Monroe]

I am, tweeting this right now love it!

[Taco-eater]

Smart people tend to let mistakes go because they're not more important than the impact of the piece.

[Aditya]

ahh brilliant, love the person who wrote this. Helped me a lot. Thanks sooooooo much :)

[CK]

Don, Dunning-Kruger applies to someone who is unskilled or incompetent. Surely a smart person is the opposite!

Great list, thanks

[the internet]

Sir,

You are full of "it".
one way you know you’re with dumb people.

1. Read this blog.

greetings,

The internet

[Issa]

It takes one to know one.

Perhaps I'll get better at screening who am I with..hehe..

I particularly liked:

"They don’t talk as much as you, because they know they got smart by listening."

Will keep visiting. :)

[tm may]

Number 7 is confusing. Smart people as managers?
I'm sorry. Managers? Smart?
What?

[Account Deleted]

bob jain facebook | bob jain LinkedIn | bob jain

[Jonas]

Very practical information!

Real "smartness" is not something people are out to prove to bolster their feelings of status and fend off their insecurities.

This article shows very well that intelligence is in one's attitude. Unfortunately in life we too easily cling to the weakness of comparing credentials with others while criticizing people pointlessly - and similar automatic, reaction-based behavior.

The piece suggests smart people stop to THINK. Imagine that! Being thoughtful... not merely reacting. You can really call the BS on people just putting down others can't you.

[Ryan]

Very cool article, I agreed with pretty much everything. I especially loved #5 because as an IT professional, it's hilariously true. The smart ones never look stressed even when things are way screwed. They know they can figure a way out.

[anonymous]

I disagree with number 5, when the shit really hits the fan a smart person doesn't smile, they're too busy thinking over solutions to the problem.

[Izkata]

10. They never, ever, under any circumstances, make you look stupid, even though it would be easy to do so.

Should add an addendum, that it's never done intentionally. I've done it by accident (talking before I thought about what I was going to say, and it comes out wrong) many times, and felt horrible afterwards.