Be the dumbest person in the room.

principle — attributed to Seth Moulton

Moulton describes the default Washington posture as the opposite: most leaders want to be the smartest person in the room and resist anyone who challenges their authority or intellectual prowess. He wants the opposite. He wants to be surrounded by the smartest people he can find. The reframe has a structural consequence. A leader who needs to be smartest hires people who will not challenge them. A leader who wants to be challenged hires people who will. The downstream output of those two teams is very different, and the difference compounds across years.

For senior leaders, hiring managers, and elected officials. The principle is most useful as a self-diagnostic when interviewing candidates: how does the leader feel about the smartest one in the room.

humility, team-building, intellectual-humility, leadership