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When Smart People are Bad Employees

blogs.forbes.com

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Re: When Smart People are Bad Employees

#21

Post by BigZaphod »

waratuman wrote: post #14

This may be a little picky, but this statement just doesn't make sense: :He is fundamentally a rebel—She will not be happy unless" Where did the she come from?

"She" probably came from some attempt at political correctness. There's been a rise in recent decades to use "she" when speaking about an unspecified person. Historically, it was common to use "he" for that task. Unfortunately english doesn't have a gender-neutral pronoun and until/if one becomes accepted this will probably continue to be a confusing issue...

edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-neutral_pronoun

Re: When Smart People are Bad Employees

#22

Post by thesethings »

waratuman wrote: post #14

This may be a little picky, but this statement just doesn't make sense: :He is fundamentally a rebel—She will not be happy unless" Where did the she come from?

Yeah. I caught that too. So awkward. As a she, i'm all for some "she's" in abstract examples, but they switched pronouns in the middle of an expression. Strange.

Re: When Smart People are Bad Employees

#23

Post by kenjackson »

BigZaphod wrote: post #20

This is probably OT and maybe even rude... but that lead-in with the Kanye lyrics is just strange. My reading of the lyrics snippet (and I'm certainly no expert in these things) suggests that the character is telling a girl to run away from him because he knows he's a dick. Specifically, he's a dick that's especially good at criticism and spreading negativity and of the list of targets, one group happens to be people…

In the lyrics, the hard-worker is the person singing the lyrics. He's saying he's a jerk for not taking time off to spend time with the girl.

So really he is the smart jerk who is trying to tell someone to stay away because he is a jerk and will just criticize her, although he really doesn't like who he becomes, but that's his gift.

He ends it with toasts to himself (and people like him). While he's toasting them, he clearly doesn't like himself.

Re: When Smart People are Bad Employees

#24

Post by aliud »

Sans the cocaine habit, and the staggering productivity levels, the second example is an otherwise uncanny match for how I eventually left my last job.

Started off strong, got ahead of schedule, had a mental breakdown, accomplished exactly nothing for about a month, and then quit (to avoid being fired).

Re: When Smart People are Bad Employees

#26

Post by naner »

BigZaphod wrote: post #20

This is probably OT and maybe even rude... but that lead-in with the Kanye lyrics is just strange. My reading of the lyrics snippet (and I'm certainly no expert in these things) suggests that the character is telling a girl to run away from him because he knows he's a dick. Specifically, he's a dick that's especially good at criticism and spreading negativity and of the list of targets, one group happens to be people…

It comes across inappropriate and immature. Regardless of the content, a VC in his mid forties shouldn't be quoting rap lyrics at the head of business articles. I can't imagine having a conversation with this guy about business where he casually offers a quote about douchebags and assholes from Kanye West to explain something.

Kanye belongs on your iPod, not in your Forbes opinion piece.

Re: When Smart People are Bad Employees

#27

Post by naner »

naner wrote: post #6

I'm supposed to take this guy seriously with a lead-in like that? I can't wait for his article on common misconceptions of social propriety among the technically proficient.

So I worded this poorly but I was disapproving of his Kanye quote, not the lead-in from the blog owner.

Re: When Smart People are Bad Employees

#28

Post by jrockway »

phaedrus wrote: post #3
mgkimsal wrote: post #2

Kinda scary that I see myself in that list - mostly example 1, reason 1 and 2. OTOH, it's a bit heartening to read "sometimes these people actually make better CEOs than employees" - just hard to get most people to take you seriously when you start off at the bottom (not impossible, just typically harder to do than simply getting hired in at the top).

I have bipolar disorder and I definitely identify with his "the flake" story. I wouldn't just not show up like the guy in the story but I do have depressive cycles where I'm not sure I'm doing any good by showing up; I come in anyway. After a while the cycle swings the other way and I get heroic coding done at a (excuse the pun) manic pace. I like to think it comes out more productive on balance. For instance most re…

I do have depressive cycles where I'm not sure I'm doing any good by showing up; I come in anyway. After a while the cycle swings the other way and I get heroic coding done

I think all creative people are like this, bipolar or not. The problem with the programming world is that a lot of non-creative types want to be programmers, and so they set soem "standard that assumes programmers are people that show up at 9am, click shit in Eclipse for 8 hours, and then go home. Unfortunately, in the history of the human race, clicking shit in Eclipse for 8 hours has never produced a working computer program. Programming is creative work; treat it like a 9-5 job and the result is shitty software.

The sad part is that there is a huge market for shitty software. I bet the car makers and bridge builders wish they had it this good.

Re: When Smart People are Bad Employees

#29

Post by DannoHung »

BigZaphod wrote: post #20

This is probably OT and maybe even rude... but that lead-in with the Kanye lyrics is just strange. My reading of the lyrics snippet (and I'm certainly no expert in these things) suggests that the character is telling a girl to run away from him because he knows he's a dick. Specifically, he's a dick that's especially good at criticism and spreading negativity and of the list of targets, one group happens to be people…

Ignoring the larger article, I got the impression that he was just listing the sort of people that a woman wouldn't want to be in a relationship with in general: Assholes, douchebags, scumbags, people that always put work ahead of their loved ones, and the sort of person who constantly finds fault with you and belittles you.

Considering that West himself has a reputation for endless work on his projects, I stand by that interpretation.

Re: When Smart People are Bad Employees

#30

Post by mkelly »

naner wrote: post #26
BigZaphod wrote: post #20

This is probably OT and maybe even rude... but that lead-in with the Kanye lyrics is just strange. My reading of the lyrics snippet (and I'm certainly no expert in these things) suggests that the character is telling a girl to run away from him because he knows he's a dick. Specifically, he's a dick that's especially good at criticism and spreading negativity and of the list of targets, one group happens to be people…

It comes across inappropriate and immature. Regardless of the content, a VC in his mid forties shouldn't be quoting rap lyrics at the head of business articles. I can't imagine having a conversation with this guy about business where he casually offers a quote about douchebags and assholes from Kanye West to explain something. Kanye belongs on your iPod, not in your Forbes opinion piece.

What about rap music do you have an objection to?

(I ask, very specifically, because you said "rap lyrics" and not, e.g., "music with immature lyrics".)

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