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Why People Dislike Really Smart Leaders (scientificamerican.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Scientific American: Intelligence makes for better leaders -- from undergraduates to executives to presidents -- according to multiple studies. It certainly makes sense that handling a market shift or legislative logjam requires cognitive oomph. But new research on leadership suggests that, at a certain point, having a higher IQ stops helping and starts hurting. The researchers looked at 379 male and female business leaders in 30 countries, across fields that included banking, retail and technology. The managers took IQ tests (an imperfect but robust predictor of performance in many areas), and each was rated on leadership style and effectiveness by an average of eight co-workers. IQ positively correlated with ratings of leader effectiveness, strategy formation, vision and several other characteristics -- up to a point. The ratings peaked at an IQ of around 120, which is higher than roughly 80 percent of office workers. Beyond that, the ratings declined. The researchers suggest the "ideal" IQ could be higher or lower in various fields, depending on whether technical versus social skills are more valued in a given work culture. The study's lead author, John Antonakis, a psychologist at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, suggests leaders should use their intelligence to generate creative metaphors that will persuade and inspire others -- the way former U.S. President Barack Obama did. "I think the only way a smart person can signal their intelligence appropriately and still connect with the people," Antonakis says, "is to speak in charismatic ways."
To a smart person with they see the world in a particular way. So when they try to explain themselves to the public they are talking above their comprehension. This is often insulting to the other person because it sounds like you are using your vocabulary and more advanced reasoning to show that you are better then them.
Someone else with a lower intelligence, works more off of instincts, which does have the advantage of making faster decisions which are more often then not correct. However to a higher IQ person this is just ignoring factors which should be addressed. And such reactions is insulting for not listening to the rational argument.
A high IQ person leading people with low IQ often creates conflict because the low IQ people just fail to see the big picture or know to follow the more abstract steps. They want right and wrong. Not careful balance of what is going on and actions based on situations.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
they can run the country with good 'ole fashion common sense. It doesn't help that it looks easy. After all, anyone can tell somebody else what to do, right? It's like writing. You learn to do it in grade school. How hard can this Shakespear stuff be, amiright? The trouble is it's scary to think that the problems of the world are too complex for you to understand and solve. Rather than face that fact and seek help a lot of folks deny it and try to force the world to conform the the reality they've chosen to believe in; with predictable results...
Also, a significant portion of the population really, really hates to feel talked down to; and, well, it's easy to rile these folks up, drive them to the polls and get them to vote you into office. Clinton (Bill) used to do it. When he talked to old people he dyed his hair gray. Young folks got a brown dye. And his southern drawl pretty much vanished when he wasn't on the campaign in the South.
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Mitt Romney is one of the smartest presidential candidates this nation has ever seen, as well as a fundamentally decent human being. People tore him to bits over offhand comments and talked endlessly about his unforgivable sin of having - 30 years prior - taken his dog on vacation. (One New York Times columnist published no less than 86 columns talking about that incident, which seems like obsessive enough behavior to qualify for institutionalization.)
Donald Trump is one of the least intelligent presidential candidates this nation has ever seen. Blatant lies, boasts about sexual assault, and so on only served to feed his campaign. At least a third of the country is still really excited about having this "stable genius" lead them even though he clearly struggles to understand any of the issues a President faces.
Look at Churchill's speeches or FDR's fireside chats. Now look at Donald Trump's twitter stream (MY EYES! THE GOGGLES DO NOTHING!). This is the evolution of civil discourse in just one lifetime.
I get that sometimes someone who speaks blunt falsehoods rather than complex truths can be seen as a "man of the people." I don't think this has to be so. I don't think this has been true in all cultures and at all times through human history. I don't know how we can overcome the anti-intellectual pressures that have been building in this country for 70 years, the politicization of journalism and education, the degeneration of political discourse at all levels into dick jokes and cursing, and so on. But if we don't find some way to overcome it our civilization will collapse.
it's just smarmy, arrogant, narcissists that people hate NOT smart people.
How many Americans hated Einstein? None that I can recall.
Interesting that Obama is cited... an arrogant narcissist who divisively attacked half the country repeatedly as hicks who cling to guns, religion, etc and did not understand the brilliance of the socialism he adored (remember his attack on "joe the plumber"?). What's interesting is that we have no evidence that he is smarter than or better educated than Donald Trump. Obama proved his ability by winning the presidency, as Trump has done, but unlike Trump all of Obama's academic records are sealed so we have no idea what classes he took, what grades he got, etc. and in fact the general public has seen interviews with classmates and professors of people like Ted Cruz, Ronald Reagan, Hillary Clinton, and Donald Trump, the public has never seen interviews with Obama's professors, classmates or even the students he is supposed to have taught. I allege no conspiracy here (other than the curious apparent desire of tram Obama to hide such stuff) and only point out that all the claims of Obama's supposed genius are apparently just the confirmation bias of liberals assuming anybody who agrees with them must be super-smart. I have seen Obama stutter mercilessly when his teleprompters hang, and have seen him use TWO teleprompters to talk with a group of elementary school kids - meanwhile Sarah Palin gave her entire GOP convention speech on live national TV with NO teleprompters (they failed just as she began talking) and NOBODY in the public noticed (go watch the YouTubes of that event and be stunned).
People need to stop being manipulated by the pre-washed pre-spun narratives of the media. A guy like Obama might look great on TV but it's not evidence he is smart. A guy like Reagan or a gal like Thatcher can be mercilessly portrayed by the press as a dottering old fool while winning a decades-long cold war (without firing a shot) and freeing more people from tyranny and political oppression than any other person in history - pretty smart in MY book.
I don't think it is a matter of appearing "too wise". I have known several people with IQs from 140 to 160, and while they were not Rainman, they all had some significant personality disorders. I think it is those socialization problems that keep many high IQers from being good leaders rather than just being "too smart".
The human brain is a balanced organ, and if too many neurons are devoted to doing well on an IQ test, then not enough are left over for things like empathy, and social skills.
Rights getting trampled by the left? You're kidding right? You don't know a single thing about civics (considering your single-axis view of politics). Authoritarian attitudes, regardless of economic policies are what strip rights away, and as of right now, people who have more Conservative mindsets are the ones doing the stripping.
The assumption of the article is that higher IQ is "better". By what metric? If higher IQ is necessarily more advantageous, why did humans evolve to have average IQ's of 100 rather than 180? You would think if the higher IQ was more advantageous, the 180 IQ people would have displaced the lower IQ ones. Yet, that hasn't happened.
Nor do I see that the people with the highest IQ's are the most successful in their fields. There are plenty of virtuoso musicians I can think of that are actually drooling idiots when they put down their instruments, and plenty of geniuses that can't carry a tune in a bucket.
Perhaps our problem here is the assumption that intelligence in the end-all and be-all of human achievement. Perhaps it ain't necessarily so.
Progressivism: Parasites helping parasites to help themselves - to other people's stuff.
I despised Obama but I'm going to disagree with you.
He is smart. He was smart enough to out-maneuver Bill and Hillary Clinton to secure the Democratic nomination. He was smart enough to out-protean the ever protean John McCain and win both the electoral as well as popular votes.
He was smart enough to evade or lie (call it pivot or evolve if you like) about his true feelings about guns, abortion and same sex marriage until the political climate was right for him to declare the position that he held the entire time. He was smart enough to take full advantage of the sympathetic media who covered every disagreement from his perspective. He was smart enough to take full advantage of the legions of dumb-as-rocks supporters out there who would believe everything he said and repeat every lie he ever told.
Failing all of that, he was smart enough to hire the right people into his organization to advise him on all of these matters.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
I too, chose to be a one-percenter, and it has paid off.
Boy is it funny how none of the problems the commonfolk choose, affect my life at all!
I get taxbreaks all the time, yet the paupers keep whining about a couple thousand dollars out of pocket. That's just chump change, who even cares.
All these folks choose to work multiple gruelling minimum wage jobs and insist on paying way too much rent and then choose to be unable to afford food or healthcare or a proper Harvard education for their kids! Then they choose having no retirement or even a portfolio so instead they keep crowding the streets with their homeless smelly asses. Stupid shit I tell ya. They even drive cheap shitty cars and never wear Armani.
Losers. Everybody should just choose to be a billionaire, that would solve all the problems they complain about.
He was smart enough to take full advantage of the legions of dumb-as-rocks supporters out there who would believe everything he said and repeat every lie he ever told.
Wait, I thought you were talking about Obama rather than Trump.
The way I see it as an outsider is that Gamacho would be an improvement. I mean, here's a man that recognized his own limitations and did his best to get the smartest man alive to try and solve the issues they're facing because he knew he couldn't do so himself. That's actually a quality many leaders lack.
Meanwhile, Trump's a guy who bragged about passing his health exam. Dude recognized some animals from pictures and he know holds himself to be a certified genius that's 'like, really smart'. Because if there's one thing we know about smart people it's that they constantly tell everyone how really super duper smart they are.
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" -Alfred North Whitehead
Social skills, contrairily to popular believe, have nothing to do with IQ or EQ, but with teaching young people how to behave properly. And many don't learn over time with age to become better.
I learned to be more social due to martial arts. The 'concept' is very simple. You behave like everyone else expects you to behave and you are fully integrated.
Funny, that you bow now to your teacher, training partner or a picture at the wall, but felt humilated when your mother asked you to say hello to a visitor.
Anyway, I travel lately mostly in Asia, and in Europe mostly in Scandinavian or Romanic countries ... being simply polite gets you everywhere.
The stupid idea of 'freedom' and 'the others' have to 'cope with me' is the reason why people are blamed for having a bad EQ. They don't have a bad EQ ... they never learned or accepted to learn basic human behaviour.
Look at a group of apes in the morning ... all the young ones walk around and greet the old ones. In our world this is considered 'old fashioned'.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Not only that.
When things went south Camacho was willing to hold people responsible for it, and when it turned out he was wrong he was willing to go back on his decision.
President Camacho shows many traits that a good leader should have.
I am not convinced that President Not Sure would be able to lead the country better. He would fit a lot better in an advisory role.
Anyone able to recognize talent and who is willing to delegate responsibilities could be a great president.
You can probably be a certified moron (IQ between 51 and 70) and still be one of the better presidents if you are capable of that.
Trump doesn't have those abilities.
A representative democracy (which you call a "republic") is a form of democracy. You might want to read what these words mean before using them :)
Meanwhile, Trump's a guy who bragged about passing his health exam. Dude recognized some animals from pictures and he know holds himself to be a certified genius that's 'like, really smart'. Because if there's one thing we know about smart people it's that they constantly tell everyone how really super duper smart they are.
The problem with being really smart is that one does not need to telegraph it. It telegraphs itself through their every action. Only a fool would become an actor full-time (having to act dumb to make manager) for a promotion. That's no promotion.
And he challenged Trump to become president, and see how that turned out.
Yeah and like idiots enough of you supported the trumps revenge quest as he tries to piece by piece both destroy everything obama did and make himself even richer than before. Impacts on America be damned, with the shocking state of lots of countries these at least things aren't as bad as they are there. President Trump is the joke that keeps on giving.
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Smart leaders tell you what's really going on not what you want to hear to make yourself feel good. In order to be competitive, you need good intelligence to formulate effective strategies. If all you want is people who tell you what you want to hear regardless of reality then you will ultimately fail because you won't be making decisions based on what is actually going on in your company and in your market.
It feels good for awhile with all the "yes people" and positive vibes then the money runs out, the doors close and it's time to find a new pasture to do it all over again
We'll make great pets
It's a republic (a representative one) rather than a democracy
Republic and Democracy are two different, and not mutually exclusive, concepts. A country can be either or both; the US is both.
Both of your points 1 & 2 are irrelevant, there are many ways to define a Democracy besides your pure everyone-votes-on-everything-majority-rules form.
I could type for an hour on the subject, but I won't. I'll just summarize by saying trying to understand people and be empathetic has made a way bigger impact on my personal and professional lives than being able to code faster or better. 20-year old me is still kind of upset about this, but pushing-40-year old me has sort of accepted it as a necessary skill for living in a world where people (generally) are more influenced by emotions than by logic.
In Soviet Russia jokes are formulaic and decidedly non-humorous.
Nobody looks down on intelligent people, they look down on arrogant asswipes who think they know it all. I've known intelligent people far smarter than me and had no problem with them. They talked to me like I wasn't a simple minded idiot for one thing although to them I probably seemed like one. Far too many people on slashdot don't seem to be half as smart as they think they are yet insist on telling you how brilliant they are.
Shame about all the military action undertaken under his purview, and he flat out lied about closing the torture camp in Cuba.
Biggest way to discredit the Nobel Peace Prize imaginable. It now has no worth at all.
make himself even richer than before.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/1...
How would spending millions of dollars running for president and thrust in the political lime light to be alienated by friends, donors, business associates, and politicians be in any way a winning strategy for getting richer? Have you thought this through at all?
Your other remarks aside, this is self evidently absurd on so many levels it's remarkable you and others actually believe it. Is Trump smart enough to pull the long con by risking everything and putting his reputation, image, money, etc on the line for some perceived gain in policy in a position that does not make law.
Or maybe... just maybe. He likes the country. He likes what it stands for. He tries to do what he thinks is good for the country. He is an idiot.
Use Occam's Razor. Which is simpler. Is Trump a genius pulling the long con. Or is he a patriotic idiot.
There is plenty to disagree with Obama to want to undo his agenda without spite.
I still have fucking morons on Facebook telling me that I actually got to keep my doctor, when in reality my insurance plan was canceled for being illegal under the ACA and I had to find a new doctor.
You are either a fucking moron, or a fucking liar.
"Use Occam's Razor. Which is simpler. Is Trump a genius pulling the long con."
Given his long and vast reputation as a con man, I think you just disproved yourself. (And you don't have to be a genius to pull a long con. The guy is obsessed with media attention, and how do you get more than being an unstable and chaotic POTUS?)
Well, there's this thing where Trump doesn't pay his contractors and employees, has been sued in court 60 times for it, and apparently loses the lawsuits. So that's a con man's behaviour. http://www.foxnews.com/politic...
The guy lies constantly. Like, nearly every statement out of his mouth is demonstrably false; I'm not even talking about the things that are up for interpretation. He makes statements that have no basis in reality and are repeatedly shown to be false, like his polling numbers, the number of people that voted for him, the size of his electoral college victory, the effectiveness of his administration in passing bills, etc. He also hasn't been good about keeping his political promises...but we'll leave that out for now because that's never a meaningful measure of a politician.
Not to mention that his properties are making a lot of money because people want access to him and other politicians. https://www.theatlantic.com/po...
The CNN link you posted shows his net worth went down, and the claim was because of a rough real estate market in New York--it's not clear that his presidency has any effect on that at all. That is, he probably would've lost money in a bad market regardless.
There's no long con here, just a con.