In leadership, wisdom is a requirement and therefore is prioritized over IQ. Highly intelligent people tend to have a tougher time with Leadership because they cannot pivot to growing others easily if those on their team do not have the same IQ. They may be more comfortable working alone and only being directly responsible for their own success. They may also feel threatened by others that have the same or a higher level of intelligence, whereas those with wisdom invite this. This is all fine if they have self-awareness and are not in a leadership position – they can still be high performers and great contributors to the team. However, they will not perform well in a leadership role if they do not understand/embrace what it takes; the wise person might tell you that a high IQ person expecting to out-think the realities of leadership, is equivalent to being the dumbest smart person they know.
As leaders, our team’s performance is our performance. Those who embrace this, rather than beingquick to revert to their own abilities, are the leaders who experience long-term exponential growth, which is also holistic in that they get the privilege of helping others maximize their potential, while also maximizing their own. Wisdom is more important that IQ when it comes to Leadership….. Wisdom without being the smartest person in the organization is safe and can be fruitful; High IQ with low wisdom is dangerous and is not an acceptable combination for a leadership role; possessing wisdom and a high IQ is rare, but if/when it happens, there are exponential results.
I leave you with one example that should sum it up. What camp would you put Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg in? The answer to that question is why we should never stop trying to get the smartest in the pack to embrace leadership. They only need to embrace it, for they are smart enough to understand it once they do.
Devoted to Leadership 