Never Be the Smartest Person in the Room
Let me start by saying: I have no idea.
But.
Hear me out.
I feel like we’ve been sold a fallacy:
“Knowledge is power.”
Here’s a potential hot take:
I disagree.
Let’s reframe:
What if not knowing is power?
Knowledge is the Pokémon you collect along the way.
The byproduct.
Not the point.
Think about it—
The more you know,
The less you fuck around.
And the less you fuck around,
The less you find out.
But finding out—
That’s the whole game.
Discovery requires mystery.
Wonder lives in the void (not to be mistaken for Enter the Void).
You must first not know.
And you must love not knowing.
You must protect that space.
Because what fills it…
Is curiosity.
And curiosity?
Curiosity is the engine.
It’s the driver of all innovation.
Knowledge is just the exhaust.
Knowledge Is Not the Strategy
Let me drop a LinkedIn-core cliché.
(Yes, I know. Stay with me.)
Howard Schultz, the epic prior CEO of Starbucks, once said:
“Growth should not be a strategy. Growth should be an outcome.”
Knowledge should not be the strategy.
It should be the result.
The reward for staying curious long enough.
Smart vs Curious
We love “smart people.”
We glorify the room full of genius.
But I’ve seen the other side:
Being perceived as “smart” can be a trap.
It makes you afraid to ask dumb questions.
And dumb questions are often the doorway to magic.
The most innovative, culture-shaping people I’ve worked with;
Beyoncé.
Virgil.
Travis.
Wang.
They all had one thing in common:
They were curious as hell.
Evan Spiegel, co-founder of Snap, said it best on How I Built This:
“Never be the smartest person in the room... The best part of not knowing is getting to ask questions.”
Not-knowing wasn’t a weakness.
It’s a superpower.
These people didn’t win because of what they knew.
They won because they wondered.
The Baby Mindset
I call it the baby mindset.
Newborns know nothing.
No ego. No pride. No fear.
They lead with curiosity.
They touch, they taste, they fall, they try again.
That’s not naivety.
That’s freedom.
Because the opposite of curiosity isn’t ignorance.
It’s ego.
And ego shuts the door.
Curiosity kicks it open.
Freedom, Curiosity, and the Garage
I was lucky to be homeschooled.
And I say lucky because it wasn’t my decision…my parents made it.
So I claim the privilege of luck here.
Not because it gave me answers.
But because it gave me space.
Space to chase what I was curious about.
I learned on Rick’s pod that Palmer Luckey had the same setup.
He’d blitz through school in two days.
Then build VR headsets in his garage.
That garage became Oculus.
That curiosity became innovation.
Not despite the freedom.
But because of it.
The Sinkhole
Here is the reality.
We reward outcomes.
Revenue. Awards. Headlines.
Nothing wrong with that.
These are trophies.
But curiosity?
It doesn’t always show up on a scoreboard.
It’s quieter.
Deeper.
It’s the thing that starts the things.
Not measures them.
So how do you not know?
You listen more than you speak.
You ask the dumb question.
You say “I don’t know” proudly.
You say “This might be a terrible idea, but…”
You let silence stretch a little longer than is comfortable.
You follow the thread, even when it doesn’t lead anywhere.
You risk sounding stupid in rooms that reward sounding smart.
You don’t rush to close the loop…you keep it open (who knows where it will lead)
You treat curiosity like a muscle, not a mood. Train it.
You resist the urge to explain.
You remember: mystery is a feature, not a bug.
Because the people who create the future
Aren’t the ones with all the answers.
They’re the ones with the courage to say:
“I have no idea. Let’s find out.”
Final Note
Not knowing isn’t about self-deprecation.
It’s actually about self-trust.
Staying open.
To build.
Break.
Rebuild better.
Staying open to learn.
Not to be smart.
But because you can’t help but wonder.
And next time you’re in a room full of “smart people”?
Leave.
And if you can’t?
Then don’t try to be the smartest.
Be the one brave enough
To ask the dumb question.
Because that’s the person
Who builds the future.
But don’t take my word for it.
I know nothing.
“Growth should not be a strategy. Growth should be an outcome.” 🎯
These are so great, thank you Nate