“If you’re the smartest person in the room, then you’re in the wrong room” is a saying that has been printed on many posters. The saying is usually not credited to any author.
 
American molecular biologist, James Watson, who won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, was credited with the saying in 2003 and has said it many times. Watson credited his scientific discoveries to being around smart people.
 
   
Wikipedia: James Watson
James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is an American molecular biologist, geneticist and zoologist, best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA in 1953 with Francis Crick. Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material.”
       
23 March 2003, The Sunday Telegraph (London, UK), “An upwards spiral Matt Ridley on books by and about the key figure in the discovery, 50 years ago, of the structure of DNA” by Matt Ridley, pg. 12:
Watson and DNA: Making a Scientific Revolution
by Victor K. McElheny
Wiley, pounds 18.99, 365 pp
(...)
McElheny has researched the story of Watson’s extraordinary life diligently, talked to just about everybody who knew him well, and recounted it fairly and with occasional panache. His biography may disappoint those determined to think Watson is a villain, but it is no hagiography. It captures the restless ambition of a man whose favourite saying is “If you are the cleverest person in the room, you are in the wrong room.”
 
ODBMS Industry Watch
10 Questions On Innovation to Alan Kay
by Roberto V. Zicari on April 5, 2006
April 2006 – Alan Kay is one of the earliest pioneers of object-oriented programming, personal computing, and graphical user interfaces. He invented or co-invented object-oriented programming; Smalltalk; the 1968 FLEX Machine, a desktop computer with graphical user interface and object-oriented operating system; the Dynabook, a laptop computer for children; Alto, the first networked PC; and participated in the design of the ARPAnet.
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(d) As Jim Watson likes to say: if you are the smartest person in the room then you are in the wrong room. The genius of Bob Taylor at PARC was to get very good people in a designed environment so that no one was the smartest person in the room. This was very powerful.
       
Google Groups: swiny-talk
Nobel Scientist James Watson to speak on ‘Manners for Science’ at the Science, Industry and Business Library (NYPL), November 13th, 3:00 to 4:30 PM
MIchael Wenyon SIBL
11/1/06
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In excerpts from his forthcoming memoir, ‘Manners for Science’, Dr. Watson will share the “remembered lessons” acquired at each stage in his development as a research scientist, including:
 
  * “Never be the brightest person in the room”
  * “Work on Sundays”
  * “Avoid gatherings of more than two Nobel Prize winners.”
  * “Never be flippant to your teachers”
  * “Knowing “Why” (an idea) is more important than learning “What” (a fact)
  * “Seek out bright as opposed to popular friends”
 
Graduation Wisdom
Brian Kenny
Sportscaster for ESPN
Commencement Speech at Ohio Northen University, 2007
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You must CONTINUE TO EVOLVE in your thinking and in your views on life. You must continue to learn. Surround yourself with bright, positive people. Be open. Be inquisitive. There’s a saying, “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room”.
(...)
Ohio Northern University
Ada, OH
May 2007
 
Twitter
Powerfeedback
‏@powerfeedback
Met a very interesting person 2day. 1 pearl of wisdom: if u think that u r the smartest person in the room, u’r probably in the wrong room!
12:03 AM - 29 Apr 2009
 
Twitter
Carl L. Marcellino
‏@Senator98
Food for thought… “If you are the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.”  Something to think about.
3:40 PM - 28 May 2009
   
The Liquor Talking
October 23, 2009
Pilgrim Hat
Filed under: Uncategorized — Elim @ 15:26
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You need to quit surrounding yourself with dummies. If you’re the smartest person in the room, then you’re in the wrong room. You’ll gain nothing, learn nothing and win nothing of value from besting idiots. Sorry to get all Dutch Uncle on your ass but it’s sounding like you’re needing it.
   
MinnPost
A Q&A with playwright Dylan Dawson
By Adam Szymkowicz | 01/26/10
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Q: What advice do you have for playwrights just starting out?
A: I still consider myself very much starting out, and therefore feel weird giving out advice. ... All I’d say is share your work. When you finish a draft of something, buy three bottles of wine, invite your friends over, get them as drunk as you can while making sure they’re still cognizant enough to be critical, and just have them read the damn thing. My other motto is: “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.” So be sure to get people who challenge and even intimidate you to take a look at what you’re doing.
 
Twitter
Jennifer Lane
‏@jennyjanuary
“If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.” http://tumblr.com/xjl5xdw03
3:19 PM - 28 Jan 2010
 
Google Books
Leadership Gap:
Motivate and Organize a Great Ministry Team
By Curtis Wallace
Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publishers, Inc.
2011
Pg. ?:
If you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room. You need to constantly stretch.
 
reddit
“If you’re the smartest one in the room, you’re in the wrong room.” -Richard Tirendi (self.quotes)
submitted June 29, 2013 by pontuswagren
   
Ken’s Blog
In the right room
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It seems that Watson has a way with pithy sayings, and over the course of the evening, various people quoted memorable things he has said. My favorite was this: “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.”
 
When I heard that, I leaned over to the woman standing next to me and said “Clearly, I am in the right room.”
This entry was posted on Thursday, February 6th, 2014 at 11:33 pm
 
seedtheory
You Do NOT Want To Be The Smartest Person In The Room
APRIL 10, 2014 | SEEDFARMER
(...)
When being interviewed years later on their success, they (Watson and Crick—ed.) told us why they were the ones who found it first. What they said was no short of amazing, but the final point they made was the one that shocked the world. They claimed that the major major reason they were the ones who found it before others were because they were NOT the smartest people in the room.
 
They claimed that the smartest scientist at the time was Rosalind Franklin, he too was looking to decode the DNA structure.
 
Rosalind was so intelligent that she rarely sought advice. And if you are the brightest person in the room, then you are in trouble.
 
Google Books
Happiness: Unlocked
By Craig Willard
Frankfort, KY: UDiscovered, LLC
2015
Pg. 37:
As they say, if you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room. Surround yourself with smarter people than you are.