Ethan Austin is the co-founder of GiveForward. He also writes a personal blog, Startups and Burritos. You should read it. It is mucho awesome.
The following originally appeared as a guest blog post I wrote for NBC’s INC WELL. It is free from my usual spelling and grammatical error, as it was graciously edited by the Charles Dickens of business blogs, the one-and-only, Mr. David Wolinsky.
Smart is overrated. Maybe I’m biased because I’m bit of a dummy, but I’ve always felt that having a big heart will get you further in life than having a big brain.
Sure, a high IQ is important if you’re planning a career in astrophysics or working in a secret government lab, building a killer, burrito-eating, ninja-shark robot. (Side note: Dear government, and I know you’re reading this, if this job exists, please let me where I can apply.)
But for most other careers, entrepreneurship included, being smart isn’t what’s going to make you good at what you do. Kindness, compassion, authenticity, humor and generosity — these are the qualities that matter.
Yes, of course you need to have a certain level of intelligence to be successful. But there are diminishing returns on IQ. And after you hit a certain threshold, additional IQ points don’t help you one iota. (Hat tip to Malcolm Gladwell).
Because, well, no one gives a shit if you got your MBA from Harvard or you got a perfect score on your SAT. Ultimately, the people you work with only want to know two things: Can I rely on this person to do what she says she’s going to do; and would she be a fun person to have a beer with?
In fact, being really smart is often a huge obstacle in the path to success. If you’re Mr. Harvard MBA then your natural inclination is to try to win by outsmarting everyone else. But outsmarting everyone else is an impossible battle to win. No matter how hard you try, you’re never going to be the smartest person in the world. Heck, you’re probably not even the smartest person reading this blog post right now. So, no matter how smart you think you are, there’s someone smarter out there who is going to beat you at your own game.
Smart is a losing proposition.
Once you come to the realization that you can’t out-Amazon Amazon, it’s time to change the rules of the game. Brad Feld recently wrote an excellent blog post on resegmenting your business. He said, if you’re not the market leader or at least in the top three for your category, then it’s time to create a new category and become No. 1 in the new category. The same principle can be applied on the personal level. Are you the smartest person in the world? Are you in the top three? No. Okay, then instead of trying to be the market leader of smart, resegment yourself and become the market leader of nice.
Because, while it’s damn near impossible to make yourself the smartest person in the world, there is absolutely nothing stopping you from becoming the No. 1 absolute nicest person in the world. So give it a shot, and see what happens. If you do, I promise you’ll be amazed at how many more people want to have a beer with you.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&NR=1&v=cFEarBzelBs
Here is to the "smart" ones ....
....
And while some may see them as a "smart" ones
We see genius
Because people who are "smart" enough to think that they can change the world
Are the ones that do
And that's precisely my point, Ethan, it should not be.
The world and the following, what you label, smart "assholes" certainly appreciates your judgmental generosity for allowing them room in this world: Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Bobby Knight, Chris Brown, Aretha Franklin, Kid Rock, Kramer, John Rocker, Ron Artest, Lawrence Taylor, Kaye West, Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson, Albert Einstein, Michael Jordan, Phil Jackson, Matt Damon, 50 Cent, Rihanna, Mark Twain, Luis Sallivan, Frank Lloyd Write, Bill Cosby, Ryan Gosling, Jennifer Lopez, Ludacris, Danny Glover, Andy Garcia, Russel Crowe, Mel Gibson, Cher, Sharon Stone, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Jack Nicholson, Harrison Ford, Samuel L. Jackson, Arnold Schwartzenegger, Julia Child, Daniel Day-Lewis, Audrey Hepburn, Mel Brooks, Tom Cruise, James Cameron, Woody Allen, John Lennon, Christiano Ronaldo, Rachel Ray, Sean Penn, Mariah Carey, Usher, Jeremy Piven, Scottie Pippen, LeBron James, Barbara Streisand, Madonna, Tiger Woods, Michael Vick, Kobe Brian, Terrell Owen, Alex, Rodreguez, Rahm Emmanuel, Lidsay Lohan, John McEnroe, Montel Williams, Chuck Norris, Ben Stein, Pamela Anderson, Larry King, Bill Maher, Prince Charles, Oprah Winfrey, Grigory Perelman, ....
Does not it feel kinda lonely in the niceness?
How about we stop being judgmental, hang labels, and rather go accomplish something? Peace!
Red October. Thanks for the thoughtful comment. Sure. there is certainly room in this world for the smart assholes. But those people better count on being right 99.9% of the time (like Jobs was) because wrong + asshole = losing proposition.
I am certainly not top 3 nicest person. Neither I am top 3 smartest. I will never be either. Where do I resegment myself now?
If "... there is absolutely nothing stopping you from becoming the No. 1 absolute nicest person in the world," what stops me from becoming the No. 1 absolute smartest person in the world?
Jeremy Lin, Michael Jordan, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Thomas Sowell, Rahm Emmanuel, Al Gore, Donald Trump, Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg, Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell, Marc Andreessen, Jack Welch, Bill Clinton, Ben Bernanke, Barak Obama, ...
Who are the three smartest? How come the others did not get the message?
What is of more importance hummer or chicken soup? Who decides? Does it matter?
The "jerks" of the world focus like a lazer on developing certain skills that may eventually make them top 3 in that particular skill. "Jerk" Bill Gates envied certain skills of "jerk" Steve Jobs. Many "jerks" and "nice" people envy and in a state of awe of certain skills of the "jerk" Michael Jordan. A few will ever match brilliance of the "jerk" Gary Kasparov.
One constant with all of the "jerks" is lazer focus and constant untiring work (yes more than 40 hour weeks) developing skill(s) that eventually make them who they are ... or not. Focus means sacrifice. Social skills are among many other sacrifices these people make. While they work developing their skills we enjoy all the things they sacrifice. Does this make us right? Does this make them wrong?
Where would Chicago Bulls circa 1996-1998 be without a "jerk" of them all - Dennis Rodman? Rodman just was cut from not one, but two teams Dallas and San Antonio for being just that - "jerk". According to some accounts, when Dennis came for the interview with Bulls, "jerk" Phil Jackson asked him, "So, Dennis, why do you want to be a Bull?" Dennis, dressed as he always was, sat half-laying in his chair looking in the ceiling, replied, "I do NOT give a damn!" "Welcome to the Bulls, Dennis,' "jerk" Jackson replied. The rest is history. Would you rather instead of bringing in “jerk” Rodman Bulls kept nice Dickey Simpkins?
Where would Chicago be without a total jerk Luis Sullivan? We admire the mark this man left on the Chicago skyscraper scene. But how many know that he died poor, misunderstood, and hunted by society?
Is it possible that we somehow partially in fault too in the way we treat “jerks”? What if we don't really understand them “jerks"? What if there is an obscure "jerk" language that we don’t understand? To understand other people and cultures we learn their languages, Spanish, and Portuguese, and Chinese, and Russian. Why not learn the culture and language of “jerks?”
Walter Isaacson provides a few insights. This is precisely what one of the Apple's managers, Atkinson, realized and accomplished (p 122): "One day Jobs barged into the cubicle of one of Atkinson's engineers and uttered his usual "This is shit!" As Atkinson recalled, "The guy said, 'No it's not, it's actually the best way,' and he explained to Steve the engineering trade-offs he's made." Jobs backed down. Atkinson taught his team to put Jobs's words through a translator, "We learned to interpret 'This is ‘s-word' to actually be a question that means, 'Tell me why this is the best way to do it.' "But the story had a coda, which Atkinson also found instructive. Eventually the engineer found an even better way to perform the function that Jobs had criticized. "He did it better because Steve had challenged him," said Atkinson, "which shows you can push back on him, but should also listen, for he's usually right."
The reality is - we all put words through translators. The translators that most of us use have been handed to us by environments in which we grew up and developed. Majority of us accept these "gifts" without thinking, questioning validity of these ‘
Beautiful story, Scott. Thanks for sharing. Sending good thoughts!
Thanks Ethan.
Another thing making it easy to be nice is the fact that doing so is free! I recently finished Walter Issacson's biography of Steve Jobs and it was a great read but also very disillusioning. Jobs, a true polymath when it came to creative genius, was not only not nice he was callous and cruel to many close to him and his selfishness and narcissism were unbounded. For example, he had a life-long habit of parking in handicapped spaces because he simply believed rules didn't apply to him. The book gave me a greater appreciation for his genius mixed with a sadness at his flaws.
A wonderfully talented and kind woman I have known for many years is facing the end after a long battle with cancer. A pediatrician, she sent a thoughtful farewell letter to her patients containing this quote: "When I was young, I was impressed by people because they were clever. When I was old, I was impressed by people because they were kind."
Kindness is its own reward.
Chris - I like that. You seem like a smart one.
Being nice is the smart thing to do, so by being nice you're also being smart. A two-fer.
Jin - thanks so much. You're lucky to be starting in chicago today vs. 4 years ago as it wasn't always like this. There is a real startup community here now thanks to people like Matt and Maria, Troy Henikoff, Kevin Willer, etc. It's an awesome time to be doing what you're doing. Keep paying it forward for the next generation after you!
Thanks Heather. Agree with you guys completely.
Thank Ethan. Great thoughts! (I love Malcolm Gladwell too). I think this mindset should be promoted internally within ones company. We've been building a positive culture of working hard and having each other's back with my staff. Not competing against each other but working together for our clients creates an amazing work culture. Sadly you would think this would be obvious but too many staffs have people competing & not supporting which ultimately doesn't help the company.
I agree 100%. I'd like to add that people should also "pay it forward". I can't count how many devs and startup founders here in Chicago have spared time just to help me. That's the kind of awesome karma that fuels growth and drives momentum in the community. People helping people resulting in an army of friends.