INSTANT MBA: When You Think You're Smarter Than Everyone Else, Your Team Will Stop Speaking Up

Today's advice comes from, Francesca Zambello artistic director of the Washington National Opera via The New York Times:

"When you’re in your 20s and have that leadership gene, the bad thing is that you don’t know when to shut up. You think you know all the answers, but you don’t. What you learn later is when to just listen to everybody else. I’m finding that all those adages about being humble and listening are truer and truer as I get older."

Zambellos believes the best leaders know how to take other people's ideas into consideration. If you think you're smarter than everyone else, your team will pick up on that and will refrain from speaking up at meetings. When you make yourself the center of the conversation, you end up missing out on a lot of great ideas from your coworkers. Sometimes, you just need to take a deep breath and let other people take their turn to speak. You'll be surprised at how much happier and more productive your team will become.

"Creativity cannot explode if you do not have the ability to step back, take in what everybody else says and then fuse it with your own ideas.Theater is one of the most collaborative art forms, and you have to be able to absorb everything that people tell you. That’s not any different from really good businesses. When I go into meetings with successful business people, I’m always amazed at how much they’re able to just sit there and absorb things and then make a really good decision."