

You Can't Be Effective When You're Too Smart For Your Own Good - adam
http://www.fastcompany.com/3000430/you-cant-be-effective-when-youre-too-smart-your-own-good

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ZoFreX
This article reads to me like a guide to faking it, when really you should
actually be doing all the things suggested, not for the sake of not pissing
people off, but because they are smart things to do!

I think if you ignore people that you view as less smart than you, don't
believe that good ideas can come from anyone, don't listen to other people,
are mean, speak up too often, speak too forthrightly, don't attempt to use
other people's strengths, and underestimate people, then you are _not_ the
smartest person in the room, you are one of the dumbest, albeit with the
largest ego.

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cema
I absolutely agree. And I want to add that IQ and smartness are not the same
thing (although there is a positive correlation which sometimes confuses
people).

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typicalrunt
The article has a lot of good points, I'll give it that. What rubs me the
wrong way however, is that the smart person is lowering herself to the level
of the people in the room.

For me, this is akin to in high school when the English teacher would tell you
to write at an 8th grade level (the average reading level of an audience) when
writing an essay for mass consumption. Completely aware of the elitism in the
last statement, I have trouble with constantly dumbing down anything when what
I really want to do is help to raise people to my level of thinking.

~~~
aroberge
Communicating effectively is a skill that can be acquired if you are smart
enough. If you feel you have to constantly dumd down stuff, then it is likely
a sign that you are not as smart as you think. Think back to your best
teachers: they likely knew a heck of a lot more than you did on the topic, but
they likely found a way to make it clear and engaging.

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deedubaya
"Don't encourage others to catch up to you, slow yourself down to their pace."

Fuck that. I've been doing that all my life, and it leaves me unsatisfied.

How about, "Surround yourself with other smart people and change the world."

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F_J_H
I read this article and immediately thought: "Cue the variations of 'I know!
It's so hard when I have to wait for other to catch up!' comments." I was not
disappointed.

I'm reminded of the Oscar Levant quote:

 _What the world needs is more geniuses with humility, there are so few of us
left._

Probably more annoying than the "smartest person in the room" is the person
who _thinks_ he is the smartest person in the room...

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georgemcbay
The most annoying IMO is the guy in the room who really is smart, but is not
(yet) wise. I've run into this with young-20-something programmers who really
are exceptionally bright but lack the perspective of real world experience.
These people can be insufferable when they are sure they are right and think
everyone who is trying to temper their cocksureness is just being negative.

~~~
ChuckMcM
Or is too old to 'get it.'

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rubidium
Let me try and make the point that this article should have made.

Being smart and being wise are two different things.

Intelligence/smarts is like CPU speed. How quickly you can pull in new
information, process it, and spit out an answer. Wisdom, however, can be much
slower. It ferments, cooks, and mixes information and experience. It's a slow
process and pretty much all people are capable of it (to different degrees).

Often, smart people dismiss those who take longer to process things because
they think it's about processing speed. That's a big mistake to make.

~~~
gadders
Or, to take your computer analogy, having a super fast CPU is no good if you
can't interface with other parts of the system.

It's very rare in any setting where people can achieve stuff on their own. You
may have a brain the size of a planet, but at some stage you will need to work
through other people, or get their help to realise an objective. Having social
skills and good manners, as well as a big brain, will help with this.

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dkroy
This should be titled, "How To Be Effective When You Have Too Large of An Ego
For Your Own Good". The biggest issue that I have noticed from people that act
like this have an ego problem, not an intelligence problem. The people that I
am most impressed with are the ones that have the patience to work with a team
of all skill levels.

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bking
I just keep my mouth shut and do everything while they all finally figure out
what I knew, I have the solution done a lot faster, and I look better for it.
There is no need to and try to be bossy and push someone into an answer if
they aren't ready. Just have the solution done for when they realise it.

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debacle
When it doesn't matter, I mostly agree - keep your mouth shut and give people
the benefit of the doubt.

When it does matter, try your best to be the only one in the room.

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eranation
It's all about emotional intelligence, the problem is that there are no really
good tutorials...

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gadders
tl;dr version: Don't be a dick.

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ChuckMcM
Very very hard lesson: "You can be 100% right and 0% effective."

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boris007
This article is ridiculous. Damn right you should be yourself, at 100% volume,
always.

