Are you a smart cookie? Prove it.
I started a new job a few weeks ago. The scariness of being in a new environment with a lot of smart people reminded me about how in this industry the sharing of our smarts is one of the most exhilarating and the most daunting things about what we do. Knowing and imparting the right knowledge in presentations and meetings can be make or break in our careers.
Sharing smart stuff makes us feel good, we inherently like to help people with what we know and of course it makes us feel good if they find it interesting or smart too because we solved a problem and proved we were clever enough to find it or think of it in the first place.
But, when we share something we think is smart, and others don’t acknowledge or don’t agree it can make us feel sad and a wee bit silly sometimes. Especially if we expected a positive response that just doesn’t happen. The response can ultimately affect in a matter of seconds how we feel about ourselves as capable people. Having an ability to judge what is the right thing to share and when is crucial and completely nerve wracking.
Twitter is a great smart learning and sharing tool – you get the rewards almost instantly, in a measurable tangible way when people show their appreciation through RTs and responses to you. And, you don’t have to worry about blushing publicly if your contribution is the equivalent of meeting room tumbleweed.
When I first got into Twitter this really excited me, and I wanted to share any interesting link that I found. Like many other people I loved the thrill of seeing someone appreciate something I had thrown out there and also the fascination trying to understand what people found most interesting. However, it did become quite overwhelming quickly. It’s easy to get confused about what is right, wrong or interesting. It essentially got me really confused and probably exposed me to be a little naïve at times. Like when the others in the meeting room drop their eyes at a slightly off piste comment – the silence on Twitter had me worrying about the relevance of what I was saying. But with so much information out there, what is good practice to learn and share the best stuff? Both online, and knowing what to transfer into real life?
1. How do we filter the relevant smart stuff?
What is really relevant knowledge in the meeting room? Because that is where the smarts really count and the value we add that pays the bills. Choosing what the right stuff is to immerse ourselves in is crucial.
2. Do we really need to know it all?
What is relevant for your world and where you operate?
Yes, it is great to know lots about everything. But if there is one thing I have learnt in the last year it is that the potential for learning is too rich and complex. You simply can’t learn and know about everything.
3. Where do you draw the line with what you share for free?
How open should we be with what we share online? How much do we need to share to prove our smarts and what do we hold back as part of the value we give as part of our day rates?
4. How do you stay relevant and interesting (both online and in real life)
We hear the term echo chamber a lot now, have we heard it all before? Is the chatter is just a churn of new people coming on board, learning and sharing the stuff everyone else learnt last term? Is there still the opportunity to find fresh, relevant inspiration?
Finding the answers
Here are three pieces I have read this week that helped feed my curiosity on this topic.
From Russell Davies.
The way to be interesting is to be interested. You’ve got to find what’s interesting in everything, you’ve got to be good at noticing things, you’ve got to be good at listening. If you find people (and things) interesting, they’ll find you interesting.
Interesting people are good at sharing. You can’t be interested in someone who won’t tell you anything. Being good at sharing is not the same as talking and talking and talking. It means you share your ideas, you let people play with them and you’re good at talking about them without having to talk about yourself.
From Katie Chatfield.
Do your fucking research.
The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. Stephen Hawking
Make sure you know what you are talking about and if you don’t, well find out. It’s not always that hard.
When I was fresh faced and ‘oh so naively confident’ I went out for a drink with the Client Services Director at the agency I worked with at the time. He was giving advice on my future career and how I could progress into my next role. I remember he fed back to me that I had a tendency to be dogmatic at times. At 24 I had no idea what that even meant. I found out. I am glad I did and I am glad he said it because even now it can be very easy, but dangerous, especially with lots of enthusiasm and passion to assert an unproved opinion but it’s also the easiest way to expose yourself.
From Gareth Kay.
Little idea #10 – be interesting, not right
… I firmly believe in a world of data abundance and processing power, that the curious will win. This, in many ways, is a re-dedication to our past. Bill Bernbach said this back in the the 1950s:
“The truth isn’t the truth until people believe you, and they can’t believe you if they don’t know what you’re saying, and they can’t know what you’re saying if they don’t listen to you, and they won’t listen to you if you’re not interesting, and you won’t be interesting unless you say things imaginatively, originally, freshly.”
How to be a smart cookie? What have I learnt.
To be seen as smart you have to be interesting and to be interesting you have to keep learning, but crucially, to be recognised as being interesting you have to be brave enough to share your thoughts. This last bit is the most daunting and tricky, because its where you have to be ready to defend and discuss your thoughts effectively.
What I hope I’ve have learnt from being the new girl is to rather than barge straight in there like my 24 year old dogmatic self, is to apply the same kind curiosity as we do when we learn new smarts, and use that curiosity to understand the situation, the context and the people involved. Because the smarts we share will be much more interesting if they are relevant, even if they might not always be right.
I had a day at work where I spoke to people in New York, LA, Singapore, China and London in one day – and thought that was kinda cool, if a little stressful. I got my 
