3 Habits That Make You Dumb, Regardless of Your IQ

Intelligence and talent aren’t the core components of remarkable leadership.

Smart leaders do dumb things.

Cocky talent relies too heavily on abilities.


3 habits that make you dumb, regardless of your IQ:

  1. Resent the success of others. Nothing makes leaders smaller than hating the success of others.
  2. Hang on to offenses, failures, and disappointments. Unforgiveness fills your pockets with rocks.
  3. Serve yourself at the expense of others. Everyone wonders if you’re on their side.

12 habits that trump IQ:

  1. Create options. The best decisions begin with four options, not one. One-option-decisions are choices, not decisions.
  2. Consider the impact of your conduct on others. How do you make others feel?
  3. Protect gains. Visionary leaders lose ground when they fail to build processes around successes.
  4. Help others reach their goals, especially those over you.
  5. Let people know what you really think. Game-playing-cowards achieve momentary success, but lose respect over time.
  6. Engage in praiseworthy behaviors. The opinions of others impact the effectiveness of your leadership.
  7. Include kindness in everything you do. Toughness without heart is cruelty.
  8. Approach situations with the best interest of others in mind.
  9. Reject favoritism. Engage with people as equals.
  10. Be emotionally steady and willfully determined once direction is set and decisons are made.
    • There comes a time when options are distractions. Exploring alternatives doesn’t get anything done.
    • Grit takes you places talent and brains only dream about.
  11. Finish stuff.
    • Let people know they can count on you.
    • Out-work the people around you.
    • Meet pressing needs.
    • Solve nagging problems.
  12. Reach high. Ease makes you lazy, not remarkable.
    • Embrace discomfort and dissatisfaction.
    • Accepting the status quo makes you average.
    • Connect with people who make you want to be better.
    • Expect the people around you to stretch their abilities.

Which habits are most important for successful leadership?

What might you add to the list?
{"cc_re__cc_re__cc_by_3_0": ["om/Leadershipfreak\"  class='twitter-follow-button' data-show-count='false' data-link-color='#333' data-text-color='#7f7f7f'>Follow @Leadershipfreak</a>\n\t\t</li>\n\t\t</ul>\n\t</div><!-- .widgets -->\n</div><!-- #sidebar --></div><!-- .container -->\n\n\t\n\t<footer id=\"footer\" class=\"site-footer\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"widgets\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li id=\"text-5\" class=\"widget widget_text\"><h3 class=\"widgettitle\">Copyright information</h3>\t\t\t<div class=\"textwidget\"><p><a rel=\"license\" href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/\"><img alt=\"Creative Commons License\" style=\"border-width:0;\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/i.creativecommons.org/l/by/3.0/88x31.png?w=620\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" data-lazy-src=\"https://i0.wp.com/i.creativecommons.org/l/by/3.0/88x31.png?w=620&amp;is-pending-load=1\" srcset=\"data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" class=\" jetpack-lazy-image\"><noscript><img data-lazy-fallback=\"1\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" style=\"border-width:0;\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/i.creativecom", ".png?w=620&amp;is-pending-load=1\" srcset=\"data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" class=\" jetpack-lazy-image\"><noscript><img data-lazy-fallback=\"1\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" style=\"border-width:0;\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/i.creativecommons.org/l/by/3.0/88x31.png?w=620\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"  /></noscript></a><br /><span>Leadership Freak</span> by <a href=\"http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com\" rel=\"cc:attributionURL\">Dan Rockwell</a> is licensed under a <a rel=\"license\" href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License</a>.<br />Based on a work at <a href=\"http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com\" rel=\"dc:source\">leadershipfreak.wordpress.com</a>.</p>\n</div>\n\t\t</li>\n<li id=\"categories-2\" class=\"widget widget_categories\"><h3 class=\"widgettitle\">Categories</h3><form action=\"https://leadershipfreak.blog\" method=\"get\"><label class=\"screen-reader-text\" for=\"cat\">Categories</label><select  name='cat' id='cat' class='postform'>\n\t<option value='-1'>Select Category</option>"], "copyright__copyright__copyright": ["\u2022 Let people know they can count on you.\n    \u2022 Out-work the people around you.\n    \u2022 Meet pressing needs.\n    \u2022 Solve nagging problems.\n  12. Reach high. Ease makes you lazy, not remarkable.\n    \u2022 Embrace discomfort and dissatisfaction.\n    \u2022 Accepting the status quo makes you average.\n    \u2022 Connect with people who make you want to be better.\n    \u2022 Expect the people around you to stretch their abilities.\n\nWhich habits are most important for successful leadership?\n\nWhat might you add to the list?", "\u2022 Let people know they can count on you.\n    \u2022 Out-work the people around you.\n    \u2022 Meet pressing needs.\n    \u2022 Solve nagging problems.\n  12. Reach high. Ease makes you lazy, not remarkable.\n    \u2022 Embrace discomfort and dissatisfaction.\n    \u2022 Accepting the status quo makes you average.\n    \u2022 Connect with people who make you want to be better.\n    \u2022 Expect the people around you to stretch their abilities.\n\nWhich habits are most important for successful leadership?\n\nWhat might you add to the list?", "\u2022 Let people know they can count on you.\n    \u2022 Out-work the people around you.\n    \u2022 Meet pressing needs.\n    \u2022 Solve nagging problems.\n  12. Reach high. Ease makes you lazy, not remarkable.\n    \u2022 Embrace discomfort and dissatisfaction.\n    \u2022 Accepting the status quo makes you average.\n    \u2022 Connect with people who make you want to be better.\n    \u2022 Expect the people around you to stretch their abilities.\n\nWhich habits are most important for successful leadership?\n\nWhat might you add to the list?", "\u2022 Let people know they can count on you.\n    \u2022 Out-work the people around you.\n    \u2022 Meet pressing needs.\n    \u2022 Solve nagging problems.\n  12. Reach high. Ease makes you lazy, not remarkable.\n    \u2022 Embrace discomfort and dissatisfaction.\n    \u2022 Accepting the status quo makes you average.\n    \u2022 Connect with people who make you want to be better.\n    \u2022 Expect the people around you to stretch their abilities.\n\nWhich habits are most important for successful leadership?\n\nWhat might you add to the list?", "\u2022 Let people know they can count on you.\n    \u2022 Out-work the people around you.\n    \u2022 Meet pressing needs.\n    \u2022 Solve nagging problems.\n  12. Reach high. Ease makes you lazy, not remarkable.\n    \u2022 Embrace discomfort and dissatisfaction.\n    \u2022 Accepting the status quo makes you average.\n    \u2022 Connect with people who make you want to be better.\n    \u2022 Expect the people around you to stretch their abilities.\n\nWhich habits are most important for successful leadership?\n\nWhat might you add to the list?", "\u2022 Let people know they can count on you.\n    \u2022 Out-work the people around you.\n    \u2022 Meet pressing needs.\n    \u2022 Solve nagging problems.\n  12. Reach high. Ease makes you lazy, not remarkable.\n    \u2022 Embrace discomfort and dissatisfaction.\n    \u2022 Accepting the status quo makes you average.\n    \u2022 Connect with people who make you want to be better.\n    \u2022 Expect the people around you to stretch their abilities.\n\nWhich habits are most important for successful leadership?\n\nWhat might you add to the list?", "\u2022 Let people know they can count on you.\n    \u2022 Out-work the people around you.\n    \u2022 Meet pressing needs.\n    \u2022 Solve nagging problems.\n  12. Reach high. Ease makes you lazy, not remarkable.\n    \u2022 Embrace discomfort and dissatisfaction.\n    \u2022 Accepting the status quo makes you average.\n    \u2022 Connect with people who make you want to be better.\n    \u2022 Expect the people around you to stretch their abilities.\n\nWhich habits are most important for successful leadership?\n\nWhat might you add to the list?", "\u2022 Let people know they can count on you.\n    \u2022 Out-work the people around you.\n    \u2022 Meet pressing needs.\n    \u2022 Solve nagging problems.\n  12. Reach high. Ease makes you lazy, not remarkable.\n    \u2022 Embrace discomfort and dissatisfaction.\n    \u2022 Accepting the status quo makes you average.\n    \u2022 Connect with people who make you want to be better.\n    \u2022 Expect the people around you to stretch their abilities.\n\nWhich habits are most important for successful leadership?\n\nWhat might you add to the list?", "\u2022 Let people know they can count on you.\n    \u2022 Out-work the people around you.\n    \u2022 Meet pressing needs.\n    \u2022 Solve nagging problems.\n  12. Reach high. Ease makes you lazy, not remarkable.\n    \u2022 Embrace discomfort and dissatisfaction.\n    \u2022 Accepting the status quo makes you average.\n    \u2022 Connect with people who make you want to be better.\n    \u2022 Expect the people around you to stretch their abilities.\n\nWhich habits are most important for successful leadership?\n\nWhat might you add to the list?", "\u2022 Let people know they can count on you.\n    \u2022 Out-work the people around you.\n    \u2022 Meet pressing needs.\n    \u2022 Solve nagging problems.\n  12. Reach high. 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