Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Willingness to look stupid

danluu.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

651–660 of 811 posts

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#651

Post by AlexCoventry »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #121
lolc wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wondered about that story and concluded that the author knew which computer they wanted. They also knew that this computer came in the smallest box. So they only had to give that second bit of information to get what they wanted. It is a bit condescending in my view to withhold that information from the clerk. But then again, I'm only making assumptions. Also, I've done similar things where I refused to let on my i…

If it happened , he purposefully chose a request that he knew would generate confusion and discomfort in a situation with someone he has power over. It reminds me of the high school bully who fake-punches you, knowing you'll react, and then punishing you for how you react. At best he purposefully made things more difficult than they had to be. She was absolutely right to think that he was a "bozo." I generally strive…

I like the formatting, FWIW.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#652

Post by AlexCoventry »

davidivadavid wrote: post #417
KennyBlanken wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it happened , he purposefully chose a request that he knew would generate confusion and discomfort in a situation with someone he has power over. It reminds me of the high school bully who fake-punches you, knowing you'll react, and then punishing you for how you react. At best he purposefully made things more difficult than they had to be. She was absolutely right to think that he was a "bozo." I generally strive…

I think he confused his trip to the Apple store with a riddle at a Google interview. I'll second that that made him sound like a complete dumbass.

He did say he's willing to look stupid.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#653

Post by daddylongstroke »

mywittyname wrote: post #360
andrewla wrote: post #338

This has happened to me frequently at my current company. I get pulled into a meeting about something that I have no context on because it touches my area of expertise, and the discussions have apparently been stalling out. I brace myself to be the idiot. I'm going to waste everyone's time asking questions that everyone knows the answer to, and I just got looped in, so everyone's going to feel like they need to walk…

One of the best people I've ever worked with used this approach. "I'm going to ask stupid questions now." and "Just so I'm understanding the problem, ." were two phrases she used all the time . I am surprised at how difficult it has been to emulate her technique. Feeling comfortable asking the obvious questions is one half of the battle, but the other, more difficult half, is knowing what obvious questions to ask. Mo…

Yes, these are two great phrases and methods to vastly improve your communication skills! Many people seem to be OK with leaving a conversation with assumptions instead of assurances.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#654

Post by unobatbayar »

From my experience, the Japanese people have really mastered the art of looking stupid. Going as far as acting like they don't understand anything and has zero clue of what you're talking about.

In nicer cases, they get so amazed of how well you play the piano when in reality they're one of the greatest of pianists and you're just a beginner.

It's difficult to tell who is who. Knowing this, I cautiously assume everyone is smart. Sometimes, it's scary how smart/skilled someone actually turns out to be.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#655

Post by mike_ivanov »

andrewla wrote: post #338

This has happened to me frequently at my current company. I get pulled into a meeting about something that I have no context on because it touches my area of expertise, and the discussions have apparently been stalling out. I brace myself to be the idiot. I'm going to waste everyone's time asking questions that everyone knows the answer to, and I just got looped in, so everyone's going to feel like they need to walk…

Happens to me all the time.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#656

Post by lotsofpulp »

Kinrany wrote: post #639
SilasX wrote: post #538

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That ... still makes no sense. "Discounting insurance for revealed [lower] risk class" doesn't work if the insured can easily fake membership in the lower risk class, which is trivial here -- just ask for comprehensive! What I think you might be confusing this with, is that one piece of the insurance is cheaper if you bundle it with others. That is, liability-only might be $50, but if you if you get liability + colli…

There's also a scenario where only people who don't look at prices buy liability-only, which signals poor decision making or carelessness and justifies higher cost to regulators.

The phrase “not looking at prices” generally means willing to buy the more expensive products or services. If you buy liability only, it means you are looking at prices and coverage.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#658

Post by AlexCoventry »

> I think that being willing to say things that I know have a good chance of causing people to think I'm stupid is a deeply ingrained enough habit that it's not worth changing just for interviews and I can't think of another context where the cost is nearly as high as it is in interviews.

Unwillingness to adapt to circumstances maybe isn't stupidity, but it's definitely self-limiting.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#659

Post by bostonsre »

andrewla wrote: post #338

This has happened to me frequently at my current company. I get pulled into a meeting about something that I have no context on because it touches my area of expertise, and the discussions have apparently been stalling out. I brace myself to be the idiot. I'm going to waste everyone's time asking questions that everyone knows the answer to, and I just got looped in, so everyone's going to feel like they need to walk…

Being able to say I don't know and I don't understand is incredibly powerful.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#660

Post by genewitch »

davidivadavid wrote: post #604
myohmy wrote: post #589

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I look for sales training in my hires. Its clear that the Apple rep was asking probing questions trying to wrestle him into a decision funnel. I've sold laptops to a bunch of grandmas who've given me questions like that, and never to a "CPU designer". ...come to think of it, maybe one of the grandmas was a CPU designer all a long!!

She's probably fuming right now that you dared ask her a concrete question about what she wanted.

What could possibly be more concrete than "bring me the computer what comes in the smallest box"?
Post reply on HN