The Smart Ones

I talk to a lot of people. It's part of working in sales. Some of the people are nice and some are rude. There are some with very little mental capacity and then there are the smart ones.

Have you ever wondered how to spot a smart person? 

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. For me, the smart ones reveal themselves not by what they say but by what they ask.

I find a lot of smart people say less and ask more. They are not asking for clarification of what you have said, they are asking for understanding beyond what you have said. They are catching everything you are throwing down. They know exactly what your point is and they are trying to move beyond to the more important information.

If someone cuts you off and doesn't let you finish, they are probably not very smart. The smart ones know to let you finish because you reveal as much by what you don't say as by what you say. They are looking for the information that you leave out. 

Smart people don't often ask difficult or intimidating questions. Those questions don't gather the information that they want. They ask very clear and often very simple questions. When you are talking to a very smart person they have probably cleaned you out and gathered more information than you were willing to give, before you realized you have shared so much.

Smart people also answer questions in a direct manner. They often give shorter answers because they find the subject material easier to understand so they don't feel the need to expound endlessly.

The good thing about identifying smart people is you can keep them closer to help make yourself more successful. Experience is only really good if it has been good experience. 

So, when you find a smart person, someone you can learn from, latch on and try to glean as much knowledge from them. There are a lot of posers out there and even though they may be at their full potential, they may be keeping you from yours.