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

[Eugene Komissarov]

Very well said. I can absolutely relate to it. This is the most fascinating post that I have read in my eighteen years of life. Thank you Mr. Gardner.

[James Gardner]

That is a very lovely comment. Thank you very much.

[anon]

Thanks to you, Don, for pointing out that this lovely piece of work is not being held up to rigorous scientific standards! Now I get to discredit the author because I believe in Science, which make me smarter than those who believe in the message of the piece.

[Ruben]

Some points are more accurate that others...

For one instance, if smart people never get upset, then many geniuses throughout the history of art and science wouldn't have suffered from depression/other mood disorders.

[Kevin Morton]

There is only one way to know that you’re with smart people.

1. Look around, if they’re wearing suits they’re probably a manager and therefore probably not smart.

[aa]

this is very pretencious of the author. I'll tell you why this is wrong. Firstly, a list of things all smart people do is retarded, people are different. Secondly, its mostly about how smart people listen, smart people dont just listen, they either listen to be intrigued and then research and make their own conclusions or figure things out for themselves, anyone can listen and repeat, just like a parrot. idiot.

[zar]

no they dont speeling and riting is my bad spot its every thing elce that i can do allmost every highly intellagent person has some thing that they can not do right like albert instine could not tie his shoews right so the ones that speak and write properly are just weak in a nuther area

[Joe]

Awesome feel good mumbo jumbo brotha keep preachin'.

[Devin]

Learnt = Learned

Keep trying; no one can hate on a dyslexic writer who's doing their best...

[DaveH]

This post was about "smart" people. Brilliant people, on the other hand, definitely take a verve towards anti-social tendencies because they are different, and they know they are different. Sometimes it's a struggle, and sometimes they are OK with it, but it's never quite easy. Brilliant people also tend to be more focused on what their concern or interest is, and that focus can block out less weighty things like friends or family at times. A brilliant person might never make a spelling or grammatical error ... if he or she is focused on that, but if focused on the idea instead, such things may pass unnoticed.

[Ken]

I hope you are not claiming that you wrote this.

Funny how you are reproducing someone else's work on an innovation blog. Ironic?

[James Gardner]

I certainly am claiming I wrote this.  I did write it.

It's reprinted on my other blog Innovator Inside, if that's what
you're referring to.

james.

[Michael Bucari-Tovo]

I have news for you, Intelligence and Insecurity aren't mutually exclusive. Many of the items on your list speak to intellectual security and not intelligence itself, but one person can possess both.

[Tibor]

Intelligence is to be shared with other. What the others are here for we are not too sure.

[Pealio]

I can relate so much to this. I thought it for years, but you're the first I have seen to actually say it.

[Steve]

I think it's the trying that's important with grammar, even if you're dyslexic and can't always get it right. Smart people know that good grammar is important and don't dismiss insistence on it as pedantry.

[Steve]

Learnt is perfectly acceptable and is more common than "learned" (apart from when "learned" is used as an adjective, obviously) in the UK and commonwealth countries.
It's an annoying habit of Americans to think their English is the only English.

[Steve]

It's a blog, genius, of course it's all opinion. Apparently you're not aware that you are a prime example of the Dunning-Kruger effect in action.

[Mickey]

I have a tested (repeatedly) IQ of greater than average by a good margin. Does that make me smart?

I think this post is pedantic only in the sense that it might as well have been mined from Chicken Soup For the Soul in a desperate search for wisdom. Wisdom that will never come as independent thought to the author.

Quite ironically - this list is just plain 'stupid'

[Marcgayle]

WOW Tim. Your reply spoke more volumes about you, than any mistakes in the post you were talking about.

James...kudos to you for doing such a well written post being dyslexic.

Don't let such comments bother you.

[Adam]

Funny how you completely missed the point of the major topics, and i know this is sadly hypocritical of me to comment, but why worry about other's mistake, let alone publicly call them out? And do you really think grammar has to do with intellect? Is that to say someone who cannot write in English has no intelligence at all? What about someone who cannot read because they haven't learned that skill. Give your head a shake, wisdom has so much more to it than "mastering the English language".

[Dan]

I too know the difficulties that that affliction can cause. My mom is even a charter member of D.A.M.

You know... Mothers Against Dyslexia.

[Anon]

Honestly, though an inspiring list, it's really not all that... accurate. "Smart people" are smart for a variety of different reasons (among other things, according to an article about neuro-connections recently in Science, their genes). What you described are personally traits, more related to introversion/extroversion, optimistic and pessimistic... and well, everything else other than intelligence. People can have these traits, some of which are positive (to insinuate someone is bad because they talk a lot... ADHD, if we're gonna put learning disabilities on this thread), whether they are "smart", or not. In some ways, the things on these list indicate that one is happy and "well-adjusted" much more than their intelligence.

So, is this trying to improve the net intelligence of everyone by saying my piece, or trying to prove I'm smarter than everyone in the room? ;) (it's a joke)

[Anon]

Agreed. I didn't catch your post til I checked to see if mine showed up.

I tried to word it a little friendlier, but honestly, this list is pedantic, and a stereotype of what everyone who's been snubbed by someone smarter than them is annoyed by at times. It has no statistical or scientific basis, and... honestly, you think you could make a list that long that typifies EVERYONE who is "smart"?

[Mike]

James,

Nice post even though I am a year late. I suggest number 5 be amended to the following:

Even when things go very badly wrong, they’ll be smiling. They look forward to the challenge of putting things right.

mike