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When Smart People are Bad Employees

blogs.forbes.com

61–70 of 108 posts

Re: When Smart People are Bad Employees

#61
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in a similar sort of position, but I'm a developer working at a software company: My goal is to automate deployments, boost efficiency and introduce "force multipliers" to get the highest bang-for-buck ratio: basically getting rid of the roadblocks between the guys and them churning out awesome stuff at a terrific speed. On the other hand, the company loses money (in the short term) when I automate things; if two…

Your goals and the company's are not orthogonal, they are in opposition. Orthogonal means unrelated, but in this case they are related, just not in the right way.

Ack. Thanks; you're right.

(I'll leave the post as-is so your follow-up doesn't look silly.)

Re: When Smart People are Bad Employees

#62
post #41

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…

Well, I've not heard the song - but I think main voice is making a comparison between being an anally-retentive, controlling jerk and being a successful achiever. The main point being; if you like the latter - you put up with (or celebrate) the former. I can't see any reference to underachieving in the lyrics - I think you might be projecting some personal assumptions. The main speaker is most definitely talking abou…

"I can't see any reference to underachieving in the lyrics"

This is what I see as a kind of reference to under-achieving by calling out and insulting people who work harder: "Let’s have a toast for the jerkoffs / That’ll never take work off." It seems to me that the voice is therefore showing contempt for over-achievers and, by taking the rest of the lyrics into account and the fact that I've met a lot of people who despise fellow employees that work harder than they do, I leap to the assumption that the voice himself must be like one of those under achieving dicks.

"The main speaker is most definitely talking about being a high-achiever."

Others have said similar. I think the voice thinks he's "all that," but in my opinion someone who feels a need to say things like this are decidedly not and therefore I don't agree that the voice is actually a high-achiever. It seems more like the speaker in the song is trying to justify his bad attitude by just declaring that he's the smartest/best person in the room and everyone else are idiots (as if by virtue of him saying that, it makes it true - because after all, he's so damn much better than everyone else!) - but that is not the mark of a truly intelligent person, IMO, and that's probably why I interpret the speaker as just being a dick. If he tried harder, tried to teach and support and didn't attempt to chase the girl away, he could be the smartest guy in the room. Instead, he just chases people away to make room for his ego.

Anyway, you could be totally right. I'm just trying to clarify where I was coming from. I would posit that in the case of interpreting art, there's no one truly "right" answer anyway, so it doesn't really matter - and maybe that's the point. :)

Re: When Smart People are Bad Employees

#63
post #54

Reading the section entitled, "The Jerk," got me to wondering if OP will be ever write the obvious follow-up post, "Why We Promote So Many Jerks". I have done work for over 100 companies ranging from SMB to large enterprises. Independently (I'll tell you why in a moment) I just made a list of the 10 biggest assholes I ever met the other day. Eight of them were the #1 person in one of those companies. Seven of them ar…

Sociopathy and narcissism are overrepresented amongst executives. Smart people (as meant in the post) usually like to discover (scientists) or create (engineers, writers, etc.) things. They don't have to achieve power for power's sake in order to be happy.

Thus, they aren't as well represented amongst executives in established companies because that form of achievement isn't something they valued.

Re: When Smart People are Bad Employees

#64
post #54

Reading the section entitled, "The Jerk," got me to wondering if OP will be ever write the obvious follow-up post, "Why We Promote So Many Jerks". I have done work for over 100 companies ranging from SMB to large enterprises. Independently (I'll tell you why in a moment) I just made a list of the 10 biggest assholes I ever met the other day. Eight of them were the #1 person in one of those companies. Seven of them ar…

>committing adultery (& other crimes) in full view of subordinates

Nit: adultery is not a crime in most of the West.

(Some US states still have it on the books, but it's probably not enforceable, under the same Supreme Court ruling that overturned laws against contraception.)

Re: When Smart People are Bad Employees

#65
post #54

Reading the section entitled, "The Jerk," got me to wondering if OP will be ever write the obvious follow-up post, "Why We Promote So Many Jerks". I have done work for over 100 companies ranging from SMB to large enterprises. Independently (I'll tell you why in a moment) I just made a list of the 10 biggest assholes I ever met the other day. Eight of them were the #1 person in one of those companies. Seven of them ar…

Sociopathy and narcissism are overrepresented amongst executives. Smart people (as meant in the post) usually like to discover (scientists) or create (engineers, writers, etc.) things. They don't have to achieve power for power's sake in order to be happy. Thus, they aren't as well represented amongst executives in established companies because that form of achievement isn't something they valued.

Wow, enough with the generalizations already!

Re: When Smart People are Bad Employees

#66

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…

Really now? NO ONE is going to comment on the irony of Kanye West singing about douchebags?

Re: When Smart People are Bad Employees

#67
post #55

On his third day, we gave him a project that was scheduled to take one month. Roger completed the project in 3 days with nearly flawless quality. More specifically, he completed the project in 72 hours. 72 non-stop hours: No stops, no sleep, no nothing but coding. I know this is against the Silicon Valley philosophy, but that guy just put in almost two 40-hour weeks of work, not three days. It might have done him wel…

"Roger completed the project in 3 days with nearly flawless quality. More specifically, he completed the project in 72 hours. 72 non-stop hours: No stops, no sleep, no nothing but coding."

Then later on: "He was addicted to cocaine."

So...no comment from anyone on how these two things are almost certainly related?

Re: When Smart People are Bad Employees

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm currently supervising an 37year old rookie . He had some absence issues, so I confronted him. Tuns out he is an ex-addict (that's why he's rookie at 37). I don't have a problem with people trying to straighten themselves out. He doesn't get any preferential treatment from me - because it won't do him any good. As long as he does the expected work of expected quality he is fine with me. Knowing that he is an ex ad…

>He doesn't get any preferential treatment from me [...] [knowing about his past] is valuable to me so I can put our relationship in right context. I don't understand how knowing about his past should matter if you're not going to behave differently towards him? That's like asking someone’s sex on an application form - if you're not going to discriminate why do you need to know.

He is differentiating that the past was a problem rather than the present. See, if the guy was a 37yo rookie because of current, actively on-going problems, then the past would still not matter, but there would be good reason to be wary. So finding out that the thing is in the past is an exercise in finding out enough to dismiss qualms.

You are being disingenuous btw -- this is not like the gender question at all.

Re: When Smart People are Bad Employees

#69

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?

I know, I can't believe that got published in a magazine like Forbes. Do they even have editors there?

Re: When Smart People are Bad Employees

#70
post #5

I've tried very hard not to be one of those people on that list. For a while I was the first, feeling completely helpless to change anything. Then someone within the company helped change some of that for me. Now I've matured to the point where I can objectively look at this company and realize it's a mismatch between my professional goals and the role that they would have me play. Quite simply it's not a software co…

I'm in a similar sort of position, but I'm a developer working at a software company: My goal is to automate deployments, boost efficiency and introduce "force multipliers" to get the highest bang-for-buck ratio: basically getting rid of the roadblocks between the guys and them churning out awesome stuff at a terrific speed. On the other hand, the company loses money (in the short term) when I automate things; if two…

Many service companies would love to be product companies. If your automated deployments can be turned into a product, that may be something very valuable to the company. E.g. 37 Signals / Rails.

OTOH, it may be easier for you personally to implement it and sell them on it once you've validated the model, externally.

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