It Took Me Six Decades

My Mum’s generation – The Windrush Generation – loved them!

Clever People.

Clever People in Clever Jobs.
Such Beings were a focus of reverence and awe in Jamaican families.

And Windrush Folk worked their fingers to the bone…
To ensure their children rose to join that rarified and illustrious community.

So…
imagine my Mum’s widely-broadcast jubilation…
when I was ‘admitted to Grammar School’.

I mean… Grammar School.
English Grammar School no less!

The problem was…

I quickly came to learn two lessons…
as a different-looking child in a very traditional setting:

Firstly…
Clever People can be such self-important folk.

Secondly…
Clever People – who know they’re Clever People – can easily fool themselves into thinking…
“If I’m manifestly clever… then I must be right. Right?”

A short while ago I was in a meeting where I was reminded of these childhood discoveries.

A gathering of consultants, coaches and advisers.

All leading their own boutique businesses.
All with expertise, education and experience hard won over many years.

Pretty Clever People, I have to tell you.

They deserved to be there.
And I felt privileged being among them.

Moreover, they were good, caring folk.
So, the environment was good to sit within.

Then, we started by working through a complex case study.

The charismatic founder of a profitable business…
Built over two decades.

A man now facing a myriad of serious business and family problems…
All generated by his desperate need to be needed.

All generated by the classic inability to let go of every decision. Large and small.

Plus, the unwillingness to entertain others’ views… if they challenged his superiority and track record of success.

Meanwhile, the cleverly generated Case Study showed that…
the players in the story could clearly see that the business could unravel at any moment.

Then it happened.

One by one, those in the room were asked for their professional views.
And I watched as the different approaches to thinking and fixing began to unfold.

On the one hand the very Clever Consultants who displayed extraordinary skills in fixing the problem.

Their strength was in providing the room with a flow of irrefutably brilliant ideas.
All of which needed to be implemented.
Obviously.
How could anybody not see that?

You see… Clever People have answers.

On the other, those equally skilled professionals who preferred to use a better quality of question… to search out what was really going on inside the Charismatic Leader.

They weren’t committed to being right.
They were committed to learning what was real.

They were committed to setting aside their Cleverness…
In order to understand this:

“What are we really dealing with here?
What is going on inside this illogical, emotionally driven, hugely complex, sometimes messy person?
This perfectly normal Human Being?”

As the conversation continued… I realised something.
Nobody in the room disagreed about the facts.
They disagreed about what kind of human being sat underneath those facts.

I sat and noticed that.

Gradually, the disagreement grew wider and more passionate.
With the Clever People reaching for yet more answers.

There was distinctly more volume in voices.
Interruptions became the norm rather than the exception.
One or two faces became visibly flushed.

I tried not to start chuckling. But, I admit, it was hard.

I meet financial planning leaders like that.

They’re Clever.
And Clever People like certainty.

The real-time Cashflow Stress Testing.

The impressive presentation of data.
The appeal to Logic and Reality.
The support of supremely expert reports.
The backing of AI driven Executive Summaries.

Clever People can solve almost every problem.
Except the one sitting quietly opposite them.

Because inside this person they’re sitting with is a maelstrom…
of experiences, frustrations, fears, hurts, heartaches, triumphs, joys, wisdom and yearnings.

And, when you’re wrapped up in your cleverness…
You’ll not see or hear any of this.

You’ll do a good job for that client.
Good.
But never great.
Never genuinely life-elevating.

I know this temptation.
Forty years within financial services have given me enough answers to impress people.

But… people rarely change because someone has another clever answer.

I think back to my Mum…
She wanted me to become one of The Clever People.

Cleverness can open doors.
But only wisdom opens hearts.

It took me sixty years to understand why.