Be the most ignorant person in the room

I have been in Silicon Valley this week, where I attended a workshop at Stanford and other meetings. I learned about various tools that enable global teams to collaborate in ways otherwise impossible. Telephones and FedEx shipments are fine for some needs, but when your partner on a different continent appears to be sitting just across the table, new ideas can emerge more quickly. In the context of competition, this matters.

But the trip prompted me to reflect on something a little deeper. Why do I so eagerly return to certain regions — including Silicon Valley — whenever I get the chance? The answer, I realized, is that in those places I can easily be the most ignorant person in the room. In Palo Alto, I can know the least about telepresence; in the District of Columbia, about human dignity; in New York, about sustainable economic development. Being the most ignorant person in the room is at once gratifying, challenging, and humbling.

There are countless needs for exceptional individuals to inspire rooms full of people who are less knowledgeable than they are. Take teachers, for instance. But unless those same exceptional individuals linger extensively with people who easily outdo them in specific domains of knowledge, they will not grow. They will not experience the simultaneous thrill and despair of realizing how much more there is to learn. Their mental edge will become dull.

One’s capacity for meaningful achievements is related to the frequency and duration of encounters with groups of much smarter people.

I am offering this as a hypothesis, and I challenge you to think of counter-examples. If you cannot think of any, then I challenge you to think of ways to spend more time with people who know more than you do, whether it is about music, calculus, or welding. It can be awkward, but if you are respectful and obviously willing to learn, you are almost guaranteed to at least make some new friends.