Who's Your 'Intellectual Valet?'

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed his brother Robert F. Kennedy as United States attorney general. But for the next three years, RFK would serve as more than the country's top lawman. He was also a confidant and major source of inspiration to the president whose up-to-the-minute knowledge of world affairs needed to be immense.

But how did he find time to prepare for the completely unexpected while fulfilling the endless responsibilities of Attorney General?

RFK created a position in his office called the “Intellectual Valet,” a person who would serve as his chief researcher and provide him with the easily digestible news he needed to know to aptly serve the president. Remember, this was 1961, so the job was far more difficult without Google than it would be today. But the concept was brilliant — and one we might be wise to replicate.

Who is your Intellectual Valet? Who do you rely on for information to help keep you up to date? It might seem that your current position doesn’t require an expansive knowledge base in other fields, that you are capable of performing independently without it and don’t have any need to color outside the lines.

But we should all have an intellectual valet in some capacity to serve us. If we’re building an expansive staff, let’s allot a position to gain intellectual capital and stay current. Let’s also search for the best daily information newsletters, like Dave Pell’s NextDraft, or Redef, to supply us with ongoings from around the world. Maybe it’s finding one that is ideal for supplying information to help us learn more about our current positions. Regardless, let’s spend the next few mornings making a list of what we want to know and need to know as we start the new year. And then let’s find reliable sources to serve us.

It helped RFK back in the pre-internet ages. And it can help us even more now.

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