I got some bad news this past week. My company was up for a chance to pitch at an event in Silicon Valley. We were in the last 12 companies… 8 will get to pitch 4 got left out. I was sorely disappointed that we didn’t get an opportunity to pitch but you have to tough skin in this business.
In fact we’re back at it and could use your support so we can pitch at really cool event in a couple of weeks. Vote HERE.
I felt sorry for myself for about 24 hours and then got back at it. Now that the sting has worn off, I have to share the whole story and the lessons learned… because it’s damn funny.
The leader of the organization is an eccentric fellow… and by eccentric I mean he’s an asshole. Like many that have “made it” in our business he has a tremendous ego and believes that he is amongst the smartest human beings on the planet… I believe the term he used to modestly describe himself was…”Stupid Smart”
I was on a call with him this past week. He was bullying a young entrepreneur in to the fetal position by , “There will be 300 people in that room. You can assume that the average intelligence level in that room will be a 9…THE AVERAGE!”
Hmmm. Seems nearly statistically impossible outside of the mens room of the Harvard Physics Department after Taco Night…but whatever… he’s stupid smart right?
A few minutes later on the same call he was undressing an entrepreneur who just so happened to be from abroad on his “communication style”… the dude spoke fairly good English but he struggled with some of the nuances… as most people do… THAT LEARN TO SPEAK ENGLISH AS THEIR SECOND… OR THEIR THIRD LANGUAGE.
That’s when our stupid smart friend tipped his hand, “You know…I don’t if it’s because you’re not from America or what…”
And that’s when it hit me, this guy is stupid! He’s paddling with one oar. He’ only got three tires and one of them is going flat. You get the idea.
But that doesn’t tell the whole story…He’s held some impressive positions… done a lot of cool things, with some cool people. He had to have SOME smarts, but he seems not be using them.
We’re in need of a new definition… I humbly submit a new a term, Smartly Stupid… here’s my definition:
Smartly Stupid- adj. When a smart person acts stupidly, ignorantly or like a total asshole.
But here’s the big lesson. If you’re Smartly Stupid… and let’s be honest if you are one of these guys you probably don’t have the highest level of self awareness so you may need to ask your friends. But if you wake up one morning and suddenly in a moment of clarity come to the realisation that you’re Smartly Stupid here is my advice to you.
Try… try really fucking hard… to be nice.
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