I ONCE sat in on a meeting with the owner of a company as he listened to his vice-president of business development recommend a heavy investment in a new venture.
The vice-president made his case brilliantly. The way he presented it, it sounded like a sure thing.
At the end, the owner turned to his vice-president and said: ''Tim, that was one of the best presentations I've ever heard. The only problem is that if we go ahead with it, we'll be competing with our biggest customer, who probably won't like that and might fire us.'' End of discussion. But the vice-president persisted, arguing that the best minds in the company supported him.
The owner cut him off, saying: ''That's why you're not rich. You and your buddies are too smart.'' The owner's last remark was said in jest, but it had the ring of truth. Given the choice, I would always rather have more brains than less. The smartest people often come up with some of the most ingenious ways to undermine themselves. Consider these pitfalls: They surround themselves with other smart people.
Inherently, there's nothing wrong with this; it's better than being surrounded by fools. But it can lead to a dangerous sort of cliquishness, where the smart people only agree with each other and shut out anyone else. You see this in highly technical areas, where the technical wizards only speak to one another in jargon. This single-mindedness makes them good in their narrow area, but it undermines them with other parts of the company.
They boast about their brilliance.