Don't Be The Smartest Kid in Your Class--Be the "Dumbest"

Are you willing to be the dumbest kid in your class? Are you willing to be the weakest player on your team? These can sound like ridiculous questions, right?

Except that leaders are learners. And learners want to surround themselves with people who are smarter than them, faster than them, better than them.

Last week, I was talking to one of the students that I mentor one-on-one every month. He was invited to a big conference at an Ivy League school, yet he felt resistant to going. To me, it seemed like an obvious opportunity for growth. But as we kept talking, I discovered that one of the reasons he was hesitant was because he was an underclassman. Most of the attendees would be upperclassmen. He had also been placed on a special committee that was more demanding than the others. He was afraid of embarrassing himself—afraid of saying or doing something that might expose his inexperience.

He was afraid of walking into a vulnerable situation where he could look like the dumbest person in the room.

How Do You Handle Feeling Inadequate?

Would you go to this conference? It was a privileged opportunity, yet my mentee felt inadequate. I told him, "If you were inadequate, they would not have invited you there." Not only was he invited to the conference, but he was also placed on a specialized committee. That alone spoke to his potential.

But even if he was inadequate, even if he did say something dumb or didn’t know something he thought he should—so what? Are you willing to be the "dumbest" person there if you are guaranteed to learn and grow?

(YES, he went!)

The Growth Mindset of a Leader

It’s challenging not to be the smartest kid in the class or the first-place winner in the competition. We all want to win because we’ve been taught that being the best is the goal. There’s nothing wrong with striving for excellence, but if you want to be a leader, you need to be willing to put yourself in situations where you are teachable, humble, and hungry to learn.

Leaders are learners. The best way to learn is to intentionally surround yourself with people who are more experienced and more knowledgeable than you. When you do, they push you past your limits and into new uncharted territory of knowledge, experience, and skill. That’s how you grow.

Reframing the Room You’re In

Chances are, you’re in at least one room where you are not the smartest, the best, or the most experienced person there. Instead of seeing those rooms as places where you are "less than" others, I want to challenge you—as emerging Christian leaders—to see them as places where you are winning.

When you're intimidated by the people around you, you're in the right room. These are rooms where you'll be learning and growing by being challenged, stretched, pushed, and pulled. These are good places to be.

Personal Experience as a Young Leader

When I was in high school, an adult at my church nominated me to serve on the church Board. At the time, I didn’t know what a church Board was or what they did. But because this mentor saw potential in me, I said yes.

I found myself in late-night board meetings with mature men and women—the leaders of my church. I spent that entire season listening, observing, and figuring out what they were talking about and why it mattered. I didn’t say a single thing that entire season, but it wasn’t a waste of time. The Lord knew that decades later, I would be on the staff of a church and sitting in similar meetings. Because of that high school experience, those meetings weren’t foreign to me. I was somewhat familiar with them, and I was grateful for that exposure.

The Value of Feeling Unqualified

Any opportunity that makes you feel dumb, inadequate, or inexperienced is good for you. Why? Because those moments humble you. They allow you to learn from those ahead of you.

Humility is a prerequisite for leadership, but it is an absolute requirement for Christian leadership.

Philippians 2:3-4 says, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of the others."

As an emerging Christian leader, humility is how God prepares you to serve others—to consider their needs before your own.

Pride: The Greatest Barrier to Growth

In closing, the greatest challenge to humility is pride. This is something I discussed with students in my leadership mastermind classes, where we are reading Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Learn by John Maxwell. Pride is what we need to be cautious of as leaders. It stands in the way of our teachability and growth.

So, I encourage you to ask God to give you the humility of Jesus Christ so that you can serve others the way Christ has served you.

Brenda Jung loves investing in students who want to become the best leader of themselves, so that they can lead others well. She works with students in groups and in 1:1 monthly mentorship sessions. For more information about how to work with Brenda, visit www.weleadthis.com. Connect with her at [email protected] or join her email list at www.weleadthis.com/email-list.