In the past 48 hours - and maybe it was more recent than that - I've had the good fortune of being in the presence of the smartest man in the room....
First of all - no it wasn't me - but you already knew that.
I was at an event where the gentlemen who happened to be M.C.ing came off with an attitude that since he had achieved a certain level of wealth he had the right to assume that everyone in the room was ignorant.
He was there to tell the room how we could be happy in both our business and personal lives and then he proceeded to tell the audience things that I had learned through my own personal study either a few months or a few years ago.
This attitude was in stark contrast to that of other verified wealthy individuals I've had the divine pleasure of meeting over the past few weeks. These individuals' material and mental wealth far exceeded this character's claims of personal wealth.
When I was in the room with them they were constantly asking what I thought although they had wealth of knowledge beyond what I may ever hope to obtain.
When I was in the room with "the smartest man in the room" he kept spouting orders and asking questions that he [thankfully] had all the answers to.
I knew I was in the wrong room when he barked at an audience member for the mortal sin of whispering to (what I believed to be) his mother.
"That's how you control a room!" said the smartest man in the room after silencing the whisper. I'm not sure but, for some reason I felt a little dumber for being in the room in the first place.
Shortly after I left.
- If there's any lesson here I guess it would be this - never automatically assume you're smarter, more talented or better than those in the same room as you. Always assume there is someone smarter than you in the room and you'll save yourself the embarrassment of proving it for a fact.
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