Radhika Gupta, Managing Director and CEO of Edelweiss Mutual Fund, has shared a simple but powerful message for young professionals. Her advice — ‘Being smart may get you noticed, but being wise is what helps you go the distance.’ In a recent post on LinkedIn, Gupta recalled her own journey. She said many high achievers grow up being praised for quick answers, top grades and always being right. She admitted she was one of them.
“Like many of you, I grew up being rewarded for intelligence,” she wrote. “Fast answers, good grades, class-topper, great pedigree, solid brands. I carried that identity very proudly… interrupted people before they could finish speaking, argued to win every point, and was obsessed with being right.” Over time, she realised this behaviour came at a cost. Rooms, she said, can start to “feel cold” the moment such people walk in.
Radhika Gupta’s advice young professionals
Gupta said she had waited to write this because she did not want to repeat the usual advice about networking or finding mentors. She wanted to say something that truly matters. “You are intelligent. Please learn to be wise.” She acknowledged that being intelligent works and getting rewarded for the same often works, at least in the beginning. “Intelligence often opens doors,” she wrote. But after a while, something starts to feel off. That is when you realise that being right all the time does not always make you welcome.
What wisdom really means
Gupta, who appeared on Shark Tank India as one of the Sharks, explained that wisdom is not complicated. It is knowing which battles to fight and when. It is having empathy, humility, judgment and patience. It is carrying others along with you instead of moving ahead alone.
At work, she said, wisdom shows up in small, everyday moments. “It is attending the social HR organizes on Friday to bond with people outside your team even when the mind says it is a waste of time. It is controlling the urge to shoot down someone’s idea in a meeting even if the mind finds ten flaws in it. It is answering the same question someone asks for the 3rd time, just because. It is managing a tough situation between two colleagues at work that could flare up, even though you aren’t involved in it.” To someone who has always topped exams, these things may look like “soft fluff,” she wrote. But she was clear, “These are the mechanics of leadership.”
Why being “mean and smart” doesn’t work
“In today’s world, no one works with or for the mean guy or girl for long, regardless of how smart they are,” she wrote, speaking of ambitious young professionals who want to rise fast and stand out. She said she has seen many smart young people stagnate simply because they were difficult to deal with. At the same time, she has seen others achieve things that once seemed impossible, just because people genuinely liked and trusted them. “Wisdom is not anti-ambition. It is just ambition with a long time horizon… and I already told you that long time horizons work well in most things, from money to malts :)”
A world obsessed with intelligence
Gupta recalled something a wise person once told her: “we are obsessed with intelligence. We measure it, test it and rank it. We process more data than any generation before us. We have travelled to the moon and built extraordinary technology.” And yet, she pointed out, something feels missing. “The world has never been more intelligent, but strangely it feels less wise. We still go back to the same sages and philosophers from centuries ago for guidance on how to live.”
Then she added a line that may matter most to the current generation. “Intelligence can be artificial, but wisdom is stubbornly human.” Machines may out-compute us, she said. But they cannot out-care, out-judge or out-lead us.
“So here is my advice: don’t aim to be the smartest person in the room. Aim to be the most loved. You will rise anyway and you will have more fun along the way.” She signed off, adding that she too is “trying to be wiser.”