One business professor is telling executives around the country to take a page from Fidelity's playbook, the Boston Herald reports.

Jim Underwood, a management professor at Dallas Baptist University who has ranked companies by their ability to adapt quickly to industry demands, gave Fidelity an IQ of nearly 160. That makes the Boston fund firm one of the 10 "smartest" companies in the country by Underwood's reckoning.

A lot of the credit for the firm's high rating goes to top dog Ned Johnson. Underwood characterizes him as an "inspirational leader," who creates an "expectation of excellence."

Fidelity also made it into the top ten for good use of technology, treatment of workers and strong ethics.

Other "smart" companies on the list are Microsoft, Dell and Costco. The rankings appear in Underwood's new book,"What's Your Corporate IQ?"  

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