Dare to Be Stupid

If, by some wild crazy possibility, you started to sing the Weird Al Yankovic song when you read the title, we are seriously going to be best friends. If you, for some reason, do not know who Weird Al is, you should stop reading immediately and search for him online. Listen to everything. It’s okay. I can wait.

Stupidity is a funky virus. It kind of sits inside of us and waits. It shows up here and there. Every once in a while. It seems to usually show up in other drivers during traffic. But there are warning signs of stupidity. It would be ultra easy to look at the warning signs below and assign them to people around you. Don’t. Look at the signs and take an honest look at your own life. Your own interactions. Your own leadership. Your own self. It isn't true that you can’t fix stupid. You can. And you should. But it all begins with honestly seeing it in yourself.

Do you have any of these signs in your life?

A Closed Mind

A closed mind is just that. Closed. You are unwilling to hear, digest, or consider new information. You won’t even consider a different opinion. Think of this like a small pond that has no inlet or outlet. The water is stagnate. Then it smells bad and can’t support anything. It ceases to be useful. It is just nasty. A closed mind becomes vitriolic. It’s ugly. It isn’t good for anything. 

No Mistakes 

You will never be right if you are never wrong sometimes. Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone fails at things. If you are unable, or unwilling, to acknowledge making a mistake you are in serious trouble. Lack of acknowledgement means you won’t learn anything from the incident. There is no chance for improvement. No possibility of growth. It isn’t that you should seek to fail, but be ready to admit when something hasn’t worked, or wasn’t the best option. Learn from it and move forward. Never admitting mistakes sets you up for massive failure down the road.

Uncurious

it is a travesty to be uncurious. To lead you must learn regularly. You must seek to understand new things. To grow and mature in wisdom. A lack of curiosity is a horrible thing. You have never arrived at full knowledge. You don’t know everything. You should be a life-long learner. Read books. Read books about things with which you disagree. Spend time outside of your normal context. Get uncomfortable at times. Not learning, or being willing to learn, leaves you stagnate.

Poor Judgment 

The end result of a closed mind, unwillingness to admit mistakes and being uncurious is that you make poor decisions on a regular basis. You end up lacking critical thinking skills. Decisions become illogical. Basically, you end up looking like a dog chasing his own tail. These decisions are compounded upon because of your unwillingness to recognize mistakes. 

Miscommunication

Communication is notoriously difficult. So many factors go into quality communication and even the best communicators don’t get it all correct. If you are not interested, or just don’t try, to receive communication it is a sign of stupidity. Expressing your own viewpoint is easy. Even easier if you refuse to take questions and create clarity. A deaf hear to other people will leave you ignorant and choosing to remain ignorant makes you stupid.

Ignores feedback

Criticism is a natural part of leadership. Some is deserved and great leaders pause to listen, reflect and adjust. Stupid people dismiss it or refuse to entertain it. Oftentimes there is negative reaction to decisions and are truly just unhappy people doing unhappy people things. Constructive thoughts, critique and the like are valuable tools in the growth of both the leader and the organization. Ignoring feedback puts you right back into the stupid cycle. Doomed to repeat mistake after mistake. There is plenty of feedback that can be set aside. Honor the person, not the attitude. But you ignore quality feedback at your own peril.

None of these signs are irreversible. Take some time to take stock of how you have approached these things in your life. Every person has moments of stupidity. Poor choices are made. How you respond in the midst of the poor decisions, bad communication, and mistakes will tell you whether you are learning or closed minded. No one has to stay stupid. Growth and maturity are possible. Make the choice to be better.