Are you the smartest person in your company?

Are you the smartest person in your company?

In the hit television show, Mad Men, the rock star company ad man, Don Draper, brainstorms alone amidst the crowded board room of fellow Mad Men to single-handedly come up with wining campaigns to build the brands of his agency’s clients: Lucky Strike, Bethlehem Steele and Mohawk Airlines.  

In Robert Cialdini’s latest book, Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive, Don Drapper appears to be a frequent offender of number 23. The story goes: In England, 1953, two men entered their equivelent of a pub like Cheers in England and announced to bar goers that they had “Just found the secret of life.” Although, these two guys also had previously told some tall tales, they really did discover the secret of life: They had discovered the structure of DNA.

Years later, Watson, one of the scientists, was interviewed to determine what lead to the most important scienticific discovery of our time. Many obvious factors were uncovered, and one that Cialdini and his coauthors, Goldstein and Martin wrote “That was nothing short of stunning. He and Crick had cracked the elusive code for DNA primarily, he said, because they were not the most intelligent scientists pursing the answer.”

Who was the smartest scientist working on cracking the code? Turns out, it was a scientist named Rosalind Franklin and she was the smartest person she ever knew and never sought anyone else’s advice.

I’m fortunate to work with CEO’s and entrepreneurs who are some of the smartest business people in the US, and even though they are not the smartest people in their company, they are world-class in key areas.  More often than not, what they are world-class at is seeing the unseen, transforming their vision into a shared company vision, and recognizing great talent in others.

But then there are business leaders, founders and CEO’s who are the smartest people in their companies. Leaders blinded by their own talent (and egos) who operate like the Lone Ranger, (regardless of the size of their team) and feel they are solely responsible for the success and failure of their companies. (Often their companies’ brand is dangerously centered on their personal vision and persona as well.)

My team at Kanna & Co., is comprised of graphic and web designers, best-selling authors, speech writers, programmers, business strategists, public relations experts and, yes, even other brand strategists who run their own widely successful companies all over the world. We collaborate together on client projects.  The collective voices, creative know-how and unique perspectives are like a movie being written by the key players as it is filmed.

Don Draper may be a 60’s version of a brilliant ad man, but he is not a leader. 

Are you the type of leader that encourages collaboration?  Do you take into account suggestions and ideas from all your team members to solve a problem?

Do you continuously seek out brilliant team members, vendors, joint-venture relationships and advisors?

Are you the smartest person in your company?

If the answer is yes, instantly commit to finding several people that share your company vision who are smarter than you!