Only dumb people think they’re smarter than everyone else

I was at a meeting this morning. It was with an old colleague of mine. Let’s call him Allan. Well, to be fair, his name is Allan. ButI’ll save his blushes by keeping his surname private.

Allan and I have worked together in various ways for about 10 years now. He used to be non-exec of my wealth management business, then chairman of the management consultancy. He is pretty much my touchstone, mentor, adviser, manager. After all, we all need a manager.

Now, Allan is a very, very savvy businessman who has done some big stuff.  And, for reasons best known to him, he lets me blag some time from him when others can’t on a reasonably regular basis. (To be fair, I think I might be his ‘care in the community’ project, and I appreciate it beyond words.)

This time, I’ve asked him to get involved with one of my clients. We need Allan’s particular kind of thinking. He is a mathematician with an extraordinary grasp of detail and process. Now, you might expect me to be much the same – after all, I am also a mathematician and physicist –but actually I am very much more a conceptual thinker. My talent, for what it’s worth, is in creation and translation of ideas, simplifying and communicating concepts and generally getting things done (executing those ideas). They might sound very similar but, in practice, when you put my and Allan’s heads together, you tend to get a much rounder and more robust solution for complex problems.

I will do a better job with Allan there as, between you and me, he scares me silly. Even though he’s probably less harsh on me than on most of the CEOs whose boards he chairs.

We met at the offices of one of the companies he chairs now. To make the best use of time (which matters when you are effectively stealing someone’’s expertise, as I am from him) our meeting was direct before their board meeting. As I was about to leave, in walked a chap who Allan introduced to me as someone of huge reputation and experience  (Sir P), whom Allan had brought in to help him with the issues the company was facing.

So, just for a second, think that through. I am retained to advise companies. I get paid rather well for doing it. I frequently turn to Allan for help, guidance and advice, sometimes informally and sometimes formally. On occasions I will seek to get Allan in as chairman and effectively have him push me, bringing his broader experience and different thinking to bear. Allan turn calls upon people like Sir P when he needs to bolster his knowledge base for the sake of his clients.

In other words, the best business people (I mean them, not me) never think twice about calling upon someone better than them in any given field. This happens when they are 40, 50, 60… it simply doesn’t end.  We collect a wide range of people we can call on, and in turn, we mentor and support ourselves, sometimes formally and sometimes just over a beer. It is a long chain of teachers and students.  At times, the exchange is mutual. Always, it is beneficial and stretching.

And yet so many business owners I know of don’t have anyone like that for them, far less a collection of wise heads.  And I reckon I know why. They’re scared. Scared of being found wanting, not as good as they thought they were. So they mix, if they mix at all, with people who are at about the same level as them.

But that’s the coward’s way. You pull out your best game when you work with people better than you. And there is always someone better than you. And thank God for that.