How to Lead When Your Team is Smarter Than You – 6 Leadership Principles

Hi, this is Phil Cook. Welcome to the Phil Cook Podcast. We've got an exciting lineup today. I'm gonna be talking about an interesting thing that's gonna impact your life at some point in your leadership career. The topic is how to lead a team that's smarter than you. I have to say, that's happened many times in my career, as you can imagine, but it's so important that we learn how to deal with people on our team who may be more experienced, smarter, more influential than us, because as leaders, we have to understand how it works and how to take that team to the next level. Stay tuned. Again, this is Phil Cook, and I'm so grateful that you've tuned in to this podcast. I think learning these techniques about creative leadership is so important. Very often, as I've said many other times, that creative people impact so many aspects of what we do. You may be a CEO, you may be a pastor, you may be an executive director of a nonprofit. Whatever it is you do, you have to engage with creative people. If you're gonna get your voice out there, if you're gonna get your message out there, you have to engage with website designers, logo designers, writers, video people. There's so many creative things about organizations these days that we need to really put into action if we're gonna make an impact in the culture. So learning these things are critical. And today, I wanna talk about leading when your team is smarter than you. Over my career, I've done a lot of major projects where the stakes were very high. I once worked with the largest advertising agency in the world. It was based in Tokyo at the time. And we were doing a huge project. We were filming it up in Canada. And I'll tell you, an enormous number of the people on that team were a lot smarter and more experienced and more influential than me. But I was directing, I was leading. Other teams, other projects I've been through with music videos here in Hollywood, dealing with major record labels, major studios, different television projects, global satellite events, things early in my career when I was directing sports for ESPN and some other clients, I just remember that I was surrounded by producers, by even directors of photography, by technical directors, by other people on the team that were smarter than me, that were much more acclaimed than me, made a lot more money than me. But at that point for that project, I was the leader. And I had to learn over those projects how to inspire those people because I was so worried that they would just blow me off. They would just say, this is the new kid on the block. Look, we'll just take over. And if you've ever directed a television commercial, a high-end commercial, or a feature film, or a television program, you know the influence that a director of photography can have. If you're directing a project, but your director of photography is maybe older, more influential, more experienced, won a ton of awards, it's easy for that person, if they want to, to kind of push you around and kind of take over things. Other producers can be bullies in the same way. So the question is, they don't all come to the table that way, very often we give them that freedom because we don't step up to the plate as leaders. So if you're entering into a project, and you've got a team that some of the members may be smarter, more experienced, more well-known than you, let me tell you some techniques that I think will really, really make a big deal for you and get you through those difficult times. Number one, I would say, lead softly. If you're surrounded by people that are experienced, smart, intelligent, have done a lot of projects, that is not the time to go in with a heavy hand. I've mentioned in other projects, that's not the time to, if you have to tell people you're the leader, you're not the leader. So stop it, don't go in there telling everybody, reminding them that you're the boss, that you're in charge. You don't need to do that, that's the worst thing you could possibly do, just be the leader, just be the leader, walk softly. You know, there's that old saying about walk softly and carry a big stick, I don't even think in these situations, you need to carry a big stick. You're in the role, you're in the role of leader, you're in there, don't shy away from it, and yet, don't inflict it on anybody. So just remember, if you constantly remind the team that you're the leader, you're not the leader, so walk softly. The second thing is, acknowledge their strengths. Don't be afraid to individually talk to members of the team and acknowledge the fact that they've won a ton of awards and that you're grateful to work with them. You're honored to be on the same team as them. Acknowledge their strengths and how much you appreciate their skill in lighting or their skill in makeup, or their skill in writing, whatever that person is, acknowledge those skills, acknowledge those strengths. And I'll tell you, it'll really turn the tables and make them feel that that guy appreciates me, that woman appreciates me. That really makes a big difference, a bigger difference than you could possibly think. And you may think, well, I'm an inexperienced leader and he's not gonna, he don't really care that I like his projects or that I think a lot of his scripts or whatever, but it happens. We're all human beings and we love acknowledgement and we love support. So I think, aside from leading softly and just being the leader, number two, acknowledging their strengths is a really, really, really critical thing. Nothing, I'll just say this, nothing wins a team over like them understanding their value and expertise in your eyes. I'll tell you, if you just remind them that you're impressed with what they've done, you acknowledge their skill, that's gonna help really win them over and make a big difference. Third thing I would say is don't let them see you sweat. Don't let them see you sweat. You know, it's almost a joke saying, but the truth is, when it comes to leadership, people wanna know that that man or that woman has a vision, has a plan, has a strategy and knows where he or she is going. It's particularly true when you see a film set, for instance, or a television production because you're all there in the same room, you're in the studio and I had a director one time, I worked on a project, I produced a project and I worked with a director who had been quite experienced but he just wasn't anything to scream about and I just remember after a scene would be over, he'd just kinda walk off by himself and vaguely try to figure out what to do next and everybody saw it, everybody realized he had no plan and I'll tell you, he lost the support of the team within the first couple days of the project. So don't let people see you sweat, even if you don't have a plan, even if you're nervous, go in the other room and cry, go in the other room and worry about it, don't let them see you sweat, maintain that confidence. Now, it's not really about lying, you're not trying to pull anything over on them but I think they want to know that the leader has a plan, they wanna know the leader knows what he or she is doing, they wanna know the leader's taking us somewhere and so you wanna always give off that vibe, give off that feeling that you're going somewhere and you're taking them with them because when they start to see you sweat, they start losing confidence in themselves, they lose the confidence in you, they lose their confidence in the project, they lose the confidence in themselves. So don't let them see you sweat, be the alpha. I think when you're on a film set or you're in a leadership meeting or some other situation with your team, be the alpha. You know, it doesn't mean you have to push anybody around and remind them that you're the boss, just be the alpha, be the leader and they will respect that. Number five would be respect them and ask for their opinions and feedback. Now, I'll tell you, this could open the door to a can of worms and that's what we fear and I've been in this situation, I've always been afraid that, okay, if I start asking these guys for their feedback and their criticism, they're gonna really take advantage of that and just run me over like a steamroller. But the truth is, when I've done that, pretty much the opposite happened. They really perked up and said, oh, well, he respects my opinion, he wants to hear what I have to say. Now, you're the leader, you don't have to go with their opinion, you don't have to accept everything they say, as long as you're nice, you know, if you're gracious about it. But I tell you, when you open that door and you just start talking about those kind of, when you just open, I don't know, you just open the door and suddenly they're on board. And here's a big part of leadership, you want your team to be invested in the project. I learned this lesson years ago, I went, a friend of mine, Barry Dennison, who works in Israel now, who's a Christian leader, ministry leader there at the Christian embassy in Israel. When we were in college, right after college, he took a mission team up to the headwaters of the Amazon. And I was literally a year out of college, maybe two years out of college at the most. And we worked for a big ministry that he was gonna take a ministry team, a leadership team, or excuse me, a mission team up to the headwaters of the Amazon. And I was gonna take a film crew, two or three man film crew, and we were gonna film and do a story on this mission that they did. And we flew into Manaus, then we took a freighter, no, we took a light plane for four or five hours deeper into the jungle. Then we were on a freighter that went for two days on this freighter. Then we took canoes to our final destination. I mean, we were in the middle of nowhere, out in the middle of nowhere. And keep in mind, this was before cell phones, the web, any of that stuff. But honestly, I was kind of a jerk. I didn't have anything invested in this. I wasn't one of the leaders. So I didn't have anything invested in it. So all I did was complain. I complained about the food. I complained about the travel. I complained about the heat. I complained about the mosquitoes. I complained about everything. And it was just, it was embarrassing. I think God really convicted me of this later. And it was my first big lesson in the fact that because I didn't have anything invested in the trip, I just felt free to complain about everything. And I was so embarrassed and humiliated afterwards. I've actually tracked down Barry years later, and I apologized for the way I acted. But it taught me such a valuable lesson. So I want my team members invested in this. I want to accept some of their ideas so they feel a certain ownership in this project. And I'll tell you, when that happens, criticism suddenly starts to decline, and it starts to disappear. They're not likely to criticize something that their idea is helping contribute and making that happen. So be open to ideas. Be a big tent. I think it's so important. They'll be much more positive about the project if they feel like they're contributing ideas. And number six, finally, the last thing I would say, number six, is leverage the strengths of your team. If you're surrounded by a team that is smarter than you, more experienced than you, maybe better than you, leverage their strengths. Understand what each of them brings to the table and really use those strengths. I think the frustration of working with a better team will go away when you start seeing these people do their thing in all their glory. Let me tell you, you have a director of photography that just does magical work. You have a website designer that does amazing design. You have a writer that's just a magician on the page. You get these people leveraging their strengths, suddenly, your hesitation, your concern, your being nervous will disappear, and you'll, let's get on this train together and make this thing happen. I think it's important. Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, famously said, I wrote this down, it doesn't make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do. When you're surrounded by a team that's smarter than you, more intelligent than you, more experienced than you, has more acclaim than you, this is not the time to back down, but it's not the time to assert yourself or go over the top and demand that they follow you. This is a time to acknowledge their strengths, blend into the group, appreciate them, ask for their advice, make them part of the team. When you can do that, I'll tell you what, your own leadership, they will respect you. I've seen it over and over and over again when I was surrounded by people that were, I don't know, far more impressive than me on so many levels, and yet when I brought them in, when I appreciated the skill they bring to the table, when I acknowledged their expertise, they were so thrilled to contribute. And let me tell you, a rising tide raises all boats because I put them in a position of doing amazing work. It all reflected on me as the leader. So if you can do that with your team, it'll make a dramatic, dramatic difference. Hey, thanks for tuning in. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. I really appreciate it when you do this. These principles are so important. I'm sometimes kind of ragged and off the cuff. I'm not as polished as a lot of podcasts are. I just like speaking from my heart, and I make some mistakes, and I make it very casual, but I want you to have the honest, truthful, frontline experience that I've had over the years working with creative people because I think it's so critically important. So thanks for ignoring my lack of polish, and thanks for focusing on what we can bring to the table together. And again, my blog, philcooke.com, P-H-I-L-C-O-O-K-E.com. Go there, subscribe to my weekly newsletter. I'll send you the top five posts I've written that week. You don't even have to check my blog out. I'll just send them to you in email form, which is fantastic. And also, check out my social media, at philcooke, P-H-I-L-C-O-O-K-E, on Instagram and Twitter. I'm philcookepage on Facebook. You can do a search, and I'll come up to the top pretty quick. I just like talking about these things, and if you have other issues you'd like to talk about, let me know. There's plenty of ways you can contact me through my website, through social media. I would love to hear your opinion about these topics, your pushback, your criticism, your thoughts, and if there's other topics you'd like me to cover, I'd be thrilled to do it. Check the show notes, because I'll have a lot of this information in there for you. Thanks so much again for checking us out. I'm grateful. Share it with somebody who you know is struggling. If you know somebody that's struggling as a leader with issues like this, share this with them. It could make a dramatic difference in their life.