The smartest thing I ever did...

... was to surround myself with people smarter than me.

Perhaps the biggest myth I have ever come across is that the boss needs to always be the smartest person in the room. I have met more C - suite level executives that truly believe this than I can shake a stick at. Its so pervasive that even many who say they don't believe it, still find themselves acting as if they do. As a leader, its all too easy to fall into the trap of thinking your title alone makes you more capable than the people who report to you. Heck, why WOULDN'T any of us like for people around us to tell us how great we are? And how easy is it to get subordinates to feed that sense of self importance? (sometimes in more subtle ways than others)

So where does this myth come from?

Perhaps its self doubt. CEO's are people too, and I know most won't admit it, but we ALL suffer from the occasional moment of uncertainty in our own ability to solve a problem or to have the right answer on tap. Perhaps some of it is the basic human need for validation of the people who work with us. Or perhaps we think we owe it to our own bosses to pretend to bet the best of everything After all, isn't that what they pay us for? Well... NO its NOT what they pay us for! If you are a leader, your job is to make sure the people who work with you have everything they need to do their jobs well. (servant leadership) THAT is what they pay you for.... NOT to be able to do their jobs better than they can!

Think about it... does Tim Cook, need to be the best programmer at Apple? Does Bob Iger of Disney need to do the best Captain Hook impression in Disney World? Does Elon Musk need to be able to out-engineer any solar motor designer at Tesla? I certainly hope not, and if you buy any products from any of those companies, you should hope not as well! Great leaders don't WANT to be the best at everything... they want to HIRE the best, and get the most out of them every day.

As great as it may be to be showered with hints of how great we are, one of the real secrets of great leaders, is to let those that work with you take the spotlight... and the praise when things go right. And when things don't go so well? Thats the time the true leaders will step in and go into full secret service mode. They jump in front of the bullet, and take the hit to protect the most important people... the ones who follow to them.

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