How to not repeat stupid

Each year, I make a point to read the Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder letter or listen to the recording of the actual meeting. I always receive valuable leadership lessons by listening to Charlie Munder and Warren Buffet speak. Their wisdom is both comical, insightful, and timeless.

This year I could not help but pause and laugh when Charlie said,

"... people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.”

Wow, how many times in your life have you always tried to be consistently very intelligent?

For me a lot. And many of those times have proven to be stupid decisions because I tried to cut a corner or think I was smarter and knew better. But what if I took the stance to work at not being "stupid".

What a mental mind shift.

Maybe a challenge for all of us personally and with our clients is to ask when we are faced with critical decisions or advice to give, is what would be the stupid path to take, the stupid assumption I am making, the stupid risk I might be making, etc. And how much better would decisions be if we looked at them with trying to minimize being stupid? It does not mean that we don't take risks or slow momentum. It is just to view the situation from a different lens.