The human ego is responsible for much that’s wrong with modern society. But one of it’s greatest sins is keeping us from learning from people smarter than us. 

We instinctively want to appear smart and competent. The open admission of ignorance certainly does not come naturally. And yet, this is precisely what we need to do to succeed in modern life. 

Smart collaborators

Most experts enjoy sharing their expertise with those who share their passion.

So, if you have access to such an expert, don’t be afraid to ask. But remember to always respect their time and not overstay your welcome.

And this is part of the problem. Most true experts are also very busy. Thus, not only do we need to fight against our egos for the right to be the dumbest person in the room, but we also need to sacrifice to get some smart people into the room. 

If you want a very smart person to work with you, you’ll need to give them a good reason to do so.

Chances are that they probably can’t learn much from you. So, what you need to do is to offer a collaboration where you do all the work, and they just give some expert input.

I recently followed this path in gaining the strategically important skill of energy systems modeling. It really works, and it’s totally worth it 🙂

Mentors

Getting a world-class mentor team is easy. Go online, buy a bunch of highly recommended non-fiction books, and digest them thoroughly (preferably on a regular schedule). 

You really need to know your stuff to become a best-selling non-fiction author. Hence, it’s safe to say that the authors of these works have deserved the honorary title of “mentor.”

A direct relationship with one or more world-class mentors is the next step. It’s also still just a next step for me, so I can’t say anything other than that my written word mentors strongly recommend it. 

I hope to be able to share some useful first-hand experience on this topic this time next year 🙂