CHAPTER 12TAPPING YOUR RIGHT BRAIN:Don’t Be a Know-It-All
It’s a fatal flaw–thinking that you’re so intelligent nothing else matters, not even how you treat others. One of the worst cases I’ve witnessed was a guy I worked with years ago. Yet in “Larry’s” case, he really was the smartest guy in the room! He was brilliant and could discuss any subject—current events, politics, history, sports—with remarkable depth and insight. And when it came to job performance, Larry was amazing.
But Larry wielded his intelligence like a weapon. While I wouldn’t be surprised if he had an IQ of 150, when it came to emotional intelligence, he was a 0. In other words, he was all “left brain”—he had skills that made him an amazing individual performer but was completely lacking in “right brain” people skills.
Now, before you dismiss this right-brain stuff as psychobabble or some kind of fancy way of saying you need to think creatively, hear me out. Skills that relate to your right brain include empathy, curiosity, adaptability, and the all-important people skills of influencing and motivating others. These are the skills that will distinguish you as you move through the six stages of your career, from individual contributor to manager and, one day, leader. (See Chapter One, “Taking Control.”)
Larry, however, put no stock in his right brain. To say he was arrogant is an understatement. Since he ...
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