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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.
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.
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.
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'.
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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.
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.