Ben Eubanks of upstartHR recently shared a piece of advice he had received from his former manager. This wisdom? “Become the smartest person in the room by knowing you are not.”
Eubanks writes that you become better “by looking for the good in others and being open to what others can teach you.” As a result, you can learn to make even better business decisions.
This idea is ripe with truth. Even if you are a brilliant business leader with plenty of industry knowledge, there are still many things you don’t fully understand.
Even the entry-level employee of your company likely has nuggets of information and expertise to contribute to your knowledge and understanding, even in your primary field. It may have been a while since you were once at the bottom of the chain.
It’s important to be modest and to not assume.
Whether you are networking with other leaders, or you are taking the stroll across the cubicles or through the manufacturing plant, someone has got something they can teach you. Everyone in the business is helping nurture the organization.
What’s a time when you really learned something significant from one of your employees?