It feels good to be the one with the answers. I’ve been in rooms where I knew the most or where my perspective carried the most weight.

It felt safe. It felt validating. But here’s the problem: the rooms where we're seen as the smartest rarely grow us.

Jack Welch once said, “From the first person I hired, I was never the smartest guy in the room…if you’re a leader and you’re the smartest guy in the world — in the room, you’ve got real problems."

He’s right. Leadership isn’t about being the ceiling. It’s about creating space for growth, for yourself and the people you lead.

If you want to keep growing and want that for those around you, you have to put yourself in rooms that stretch you. Here’s how:

1. Audit your current rooms. Take a hard look at the environments where you spend your time. Where are you the ceiling? Where do you feel like the one with all the answers? The more you stay in those spaces, the more you risk stalling out.

2. Seek out smarter voices. Get in rooms where you’re not the expert. Ask questions more than you give answers. Join groups or circles where other people’s perspectives force you to think differently and see things you wouldn’t on your own.

3. Build teams that surpass you. Hire and empower people who are better than you in their lane. And when they lead in ways you can’t, celebrate it. Great leaders create the conditions for others to shine in their strengths.

4. Invite hard feedback often. Growth doesn’t happen without risk. The people closest to you often see things you can’t, and when they do, it can be challenging to receive it. But their perspective may be exactly what you need to step beyond your current plateau.

Being the smartest might feel good. But it will keep you stuck, and it will keep your team stuck too.

The best leaders choose rooms that grow them.

Where are you inviting stretch this year?

Rooting for you,

Paul
Certified Executive Coach
​pauldicicco.com​