5 Reasons to Hire People Who are Smarter than You (Guest blog)

Each person’s ego wants him to believe that they are a lot better than someone else. I also like to believe I can do another person’s job better even when I have far less experience than the said person. It’s because another person’s job appears far easier than our own and we fail to understand why they struggle in some places and aren’t doing their work on time.

When you do come across someone who might be smarter and brighter than you, you start to feel insecure. Imagine when a fresh graduate does the same level of work you’re capable of doing currently after many years of experience. When she starts to ask questions and you do not always have the answers, don’t you feel a sort of inferiority complex? And when that happens, you start to fear that a person might lose respect for you if you do not have the right answers.

You do not want to accept your flaws, undermining your authority, and you do not want them to advance quicker than you and overtaking your position in the process. But what you need to know is that you, as a manager or hiring professional, need to look at the value a person can provide to your company in the long run. Below is a couple of reasons why you should always hire people smarter than yourself.

Recognize the areas you are weak

What makes one a great leader? Humility does. When a leader is humble enough to accept his flaws and weak areas, he is never intimidated when someone with authority on the subject shows up. In fact, it’s quite foolish to expect that you alone can cover a wide expanse of the field by yourself, it’s just not possible. If you are a scientist, you won’t understand how to compose music or a great work of art. So considering all this, hire people to cover the areas where you’re weak.

Work Distribution Accordingly

How on earth can you expect to do everything on your own? As the business grows, so does the workload and you need more manpower to cover all the areas. There are certain people designed to do their individual tasks better than you can, and there’s no harm admitting that. Each person has his or her own specialization and simply accept that they worked hard in their respective fields. Focus on what you do best rather and hire people to cover the areas where you have less experience.

Youngster generation is potentially sharper

When you hire someone smart, it doesn’t mean that they have to be of an older age than you. It also does not mean that the person has more experience than you either. They’re growing up with the kind of technology we never had the chance to get acquainted with. For example, youngsters spend a lot of time on the internet because, in our time, we had lousy dial-up connections which meant you couldn’t use your telephone at the same time.

So it’s quite understandable that hiring someone young to manage your social media is a wise move as compared to hiring a marketing professional who’s not familiar with social media advertising or who doesn’t use social media in the first place. Always be prepared to teach and get taught in return.

Trust to make their own decisions

It’s understandable that you won’t need to constantly manage someone who’s already aware of what they have to do, their work, and the knowledge required for them to move independently. You’ll get work quicker and you won’t need to spend additional time to review anything. If someone does manage to stumble onto something outside their comfort zone, you can expect them to make good decisions by themselves. It also gives a boost to the confidence of your teammates when you show them that you trust them enough to make your own decision.

Rapid Progression and Quick Understanding

Smart people already have a vast understanding of their work. If they don’t, they’re quick learners. They are also not uncomfortable to work in areas they do not have experience or expertise in. We learn that kind of confidence the higher we progress in our careers but people who are smarter than you can do it at a quicker rate. It’s not a bad thing to ask them questions about their work and appear interested in learning. Your team will probably get motivated by the involvement and interest you show in their work.

Thinking that you are the smartest person in the office means that you have a certain kind of problem with authority. It’s nothing short of stupid to think that no one can be smarter than you. Actually, the problem lies in having a shot at our ego and having people discover that we are not as smart as everyone seems to think. When we fail to answer a question, we no doubt feel insulted and discover that yes, we’re human and we have flaws.

Do not be selfish in your desire to remain the smartest person in the office by refusing to hire someone smarter, just so that everyone will only look up to you. Many times, knowledge pawns experience and you can extract more benefits from a person who has knowledge and information but not the experience or required skills.

Author Bio:
Rebecca Katharine is a Senior Creative Writer in Dissertation Point UK. Since she is a creative writer therefore, she writes with all possible different aspects. In this way, she usually writes regarding students and their issues in local and international market.