Astute: (adj) having or showing an ability to accurately assess situations or people and turn this to one’s advantage.

Knowing when to play dumb.

After all, there’s no advantage in playing smart. You either are intelligent in a given situation or you’re not, and that certainly will become obvious.

But in order to be astute in this world, you must be prepared to play dumb without ever feeling lessened or defensive about the role.

For the action of including others is the admission of lack. No collaboration is ever successful if both people insist they’re intelligent enough to pull it off without each other–or if they even think they are.

To get the very best of a roomful of people, you have to develop the childlike quality of being the student and not the schoolmarm. If you can’t do this, you will insist that you are an individual who loves to get the “take” of others while simultaneously ignoring every opinion proffered your way.

I think we believe that being astute is profiling ourselves as knowledgeable so you can join into the discussion.

Yet as we look back at our history, most people would consider Abraham Lincoln to be one of the greatest Presidents. Yet to many of his advisors, he was perceived to be a buffoon. He was always telling stories, was often awry from the point, and did not seem to have a natural aptitude for leadership. But Lincoln knew how to act dumb so he could garner the true opinions of those around him, and siphon from them the very best answers.

• If you try to act too smart, you will scare away others who are frightened of your superiority.
• And if you’re actually unintelligent and insist you have prowess, you will be viewed as a fool.

The secret to life is knowing when to act dumb. Without this gift, you cannot really procure the true intelligence around you … and learn better ways.

Thank you for enjoying Words from Dic(tionary) —  J.R. Practix