Leadership Lesson 1: Being Smart Isn’t Enough

I am a first generation American—I was raised by a tiger mom and a brilliant dad. My parents immigrated to the US for my dad to get a PhD in engineering, and to pursue the American dream.

My responsibilities as a child were clear—study hard and get good grades. Academic achievement was the path to success.

Even though I wasn’t blessed with the photographic memory of my siblings, I still managed to graduate from high school at the top of my class and then attend college and law school on academic scholarships. What could go wrong?

At my first “real” job as a determined little overachiever, I ensured that everyone knew just how smart I was and how good I was at my job.

I didn’t make a lot of friends at that first job. I was just as surprised as you are.

Luckily, stop two in my professional journey was the Central Intelligence Agency, where I met one of the fiercest people I’ll probably ever meet. She came in a small package—5’2” and 100 pounds—but she spoke Russian and Chinese fluently, casually ran marathons (very quickly) for fun, was incredibly well respected across the organization, and had served our country successfully in postings all over the world. For the purposes of this post, we’ll call her Jane.

As you can imagine, the CIA is a very political place—each time I moved to a new job or office, the first thing I would do is set up meetings with all the department and branch heads to introduce myself. I went to Jane during my first week and asked her who I should meet. She gave me a list of people, and I did my best to charm them.

After meeting with the head of the entire division, I walked back to my desk, and Jane said she wanted to show me something. She invited me into her office.

On her computer, she had an email pulled up that the head of the division sent to all the top managers covering a large percentage of the globe—the email said that I was a “rising star” and that people should help me and watch my progress carefully.

I was flabbergasted. I told Jane—that seems really nice, but the division head hasn’t even seen any of my work!

With the hint of a smile, Jane told me that was the point—how you present yourself, how you communicate, and how you connect with people is just as important (if not more important) as being smart or being able to do your actual job well.

I reflect on that lesson often, and have seen it in action innumerable times over the course of my career.

Well played, Jane. Well played.