If the “old smart” was about getting high grades, knowing more right answers, and not making mistakes, the “new smart” is measured by one’s ability to keep adapting. But to do that, Hess says, we must avoid being overly invested in our own ideas and expertise. “I must decouple my beliefs from my ego,” Hess explains. “I must be open-minded and treat my beliefs as hypotheses to be constantly tested and subject to modification by better data.”
