Why to Hang Around People Smarter Than You Video

Why to Hang Around People Smarter Than You

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Why to Hang Around People Smarter Than You -

In Chapter 4 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, Internet entrepreneur...

Why to Hang Around People Smarter Than You -

In Chapter 4 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, Internet entrepreneur and SimpleGeo CTO Joe Stump shares why he hangs out with smarter peers. He sees this not as a threat but as a learning opportunity. He notes how he learns about wine listening to Gary Vaynerchuk and Garren Katz. Ultimately, the smarter peer group helps Joe continuously learn and develop. Stump is the co-founder and CTO at SimpleGeo www.simplegeo.com

Added: 6/7/11

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Why to Hang Around People Smarter Than You capture your flag continuous learning garren katz Gary Vaynerchuk intellectual curiosity joe stump knowledge personal network development simplegeo why to have smart friends

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Why to Hang Around People Smarter Than You

Erik: Why is it a good idea to surround yourself with people that are smarter than you? Joe: Um… One, you look smarter. [laughs] Guilt by association, man! If people are smart and you hang out with them, therefore you will look smart too. That is legitimately a benefit of hanging out with people that are smarter than you. I think the other one is – I think the main reason I like to hang out with people that are smarter than me is that challenges me – people will react to that situation in two ways. One, they will basically wilt away from it and be like, “These people are too smart. I can’t hang with them. I’m out.” And other people will sit around and sponge off of them and basically be like, “This is an opportunity for me to get better at something and learn more about something I didn’t know about.” And that’s why I hang out with people that are smarter than me. They have knowledge that I want, or that I need, or that I just find interesting. I’m never going to… I’m not a wine guy at all but I’ll listen to Garren [Katz] talk about wine all day long. Same thing with Gary [Vaynerchuk] because it’s fascinating that someone knows that much about something so mundane. [laughs] And I love the little things, like Gary will talk about how global warming is impacting wines and how different wine – like a wine regions that use to be known for one type of grape has actually completely shifted because the climate has changed so much and they can’t grow that old grape but they can grow this new grape. That stuff is really interesting. It’s challenging and it’s beneficial in a number of ways and if you’re one of those types of people that always wants to get better, then you have to surround yourself with smarter people because otherwise you’re just treading water.

Capture Your Flag

Capture Your Flag interviews tomorrow's leaders today to provide a more approachable way early- to mid-career professionals can build aspirational careers. Interviews are edited into short segments by question and categorized by 100 common themes.

http://www.captureyourflag.com/

SimpleGeo

SimpleGeo is a ready-to-use location infrastructure for applications. It makes adding location to applications much easier, reducing development time from months to days.

http://https://simplegeo.com/

Erik: Why is it a good idea to surround yourself with people that are smarter than you?

Joe: Um… One, you look smarter. [laughs] Guilt by association, man! If people are smart and you hang out with them, therefore you will look smart too. That is legitimately a benefit of hanging out with people that are smarter than you. I think the other one is – I think the main reason I like to hang out with people that are smarter than me is that challenges me – people will react to that situation in two ways. One, they will basically wilt away from it and be like, “These people are too smart. I can’t hang with them. I’m out.” And other people will sit around and sponge off of them and basically be like, “This is an opportunity for me to get better at something and learn more about something I didn’t know about.” And that’s why I hang out with people that are smarter than me. They have knowledge that I want, or that I need, or that I just find interesting. I’m never going to… I’m not a wine guy at all but I’ll listen to Garren [Katz] talk about wine all day long. Same thing with Gary [Vaynerchuk] because it’s fascinating that someone knows that much about something so mundane. [laughs] And I love the little things, like Gary will talk about how global warming is impacting wines and how different wine – like a wine regions that use to be known for one type of grape has actually completely shifted because the climate has changed so much and they can’t grow that old grape but they can grow this new grape. That stuff is really interesting. It’s challenging and it’s beneficial in a number of ways and if you’re one of those types of people that always wants to get better, then you have to surround yourself with smarter people because otherwise you’re just treading water.

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