Why You Should Not Be the Smartest Person in the Room

Many leaders never learn the mistake of being the smartest person in the room. A leader might believe that in order to lead, to make good decisions and to stay ahead of the competition, they need to know more than anyone else. The reality is, with the speed of human activity and sheer volume of knowledge available, that simply isn’t possible or practical. The best solution, rather, is to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you are, in a variety of areas and disciplines. And get this—it’s also a biblical example of leadership.?

Moses had led his people out of Egypt, across the Red Sea and into the wilderness. Growing up in Egypt he was taken into Pharoah’s court as the child of Pharoah’s daughter. He had the best education and was surrounded in his early life by high officials. Moses likely was one of the smartest people in the room. But Israel was a large nation—likely more than a million people. In Deuteronomy 1 we read that it was just too much for Moses to handle on his own. He said, “I cannot take care of your problems, your troubles, and your arguments by myself” (Deuteronomy 1:12).?

So Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, suggested, “The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice… Teach them God’s decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves” (Exodus 18:17-22). In other words, he told Moses to delegate responsibility.

Notice, too, that Jethro said, “Select capable men”. Moses was, in fact, surrounded by many capable people. Jethro’s suggestion was to appoint them and let them lead. Moses entrusted decisions to many lieutenants, and concentrated his work on decisions that affected the whole nation of Israel—as well as communicating what God was telling the nation to do. At the end of his life we read that Moses became tremendously humble—in fact, the most humble man who had ever lived (Numbers 12:3). Part of the lesson Moses had to learn as a leader was to put others before himself, to let them lead and do the work that they themselves were equipped to do. Moses discovered he did not have to always be the smartest person in the room.

In your leadership, look for capable people to whom you can delegate responsibility. If they do not have the experience as yet, remember, you are in a position to give them the experience they desire. They may already possess the capacity to lead—they just need the opportunity. And some of them, quite frankly, will turn out to be the smartest people in the room.??