<story><title>Why People Dislike Really Smart Leaders</title><url>https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-people-dislike-really-smart-leaders/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>killjoywashere</author><text>Personal anecdote, but I wonder if my experience as a junior officer in the Navy helped with this. The last comments in the piece are that intelligent leaders should 1) seek creative metaphors and 2) speak charismatically. Coming to the fleet from a bachelor&amp;#x27;s in physics, I knew I was reasonably intelligent, but also that there were some people &lt;i&gt;much&lt;/i&gt; smarter than me (at least my battered ego assured me of that).&lt;p&gt;So, walking aboard a frigate with sort of an academic&amp;#x27;s self-awareness and certainty that the world is an uncertain place, I had to lead a division of sailors who would do things that just left me dumbfounded. &amp;quot;Why would you attempt to drive through the closed base gate?&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Why would you test the 440V circuit with your fingers?&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Why would you go in the engine room without hearing protection?&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Do you realize you installed all the valves backward?&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Where did you meet this woman? No, she can&amp;#x27;t come on the ship!&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Then you have to get these folks to do work. They&amp;#x27;re not lazy, but trying motivate them with the bigger picture could be challenging. Metaphor came to hand more and more. And you sort of settle in. You&amp;#x27;re &lt;i&gt;not&lt;/i&gt; intellectually challenged, and repetition and comfort bring confidence, which makes charismatic patterns of speech easier.&lt;p&gt;When I went to grad school, I found myself using these same patterns of speech to get things done. And I still do. It&amp;#x27;s always poor form to toot your own horn, but the last few years, I have to say, I&amp;#x27;ve realized more and more, having a hard science degree and early leadership experience are an extremely valuable combination. I have no idea how I&amp;#x27;d be doing what I do now without that.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mulmen</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t have military experience and I will stop short of saying I wish I did because I think that does a disservice to both of us.  What I will say is that the vets I have worked with have been excellent contributors and leaders.  I work in a place that values strong leadership and makes a point of hiring veterans.  It would be easy to dismiss that as public relations fluff but I truly believe vets make an invaluable contribution to a company.</text></comment>
<story><title>Why People Dislike Really Smart Leaders</title><url>https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-people-dislike-really-smart-leaders/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>killjoywashere</author><text>Personal anecdote, but I wonder if my experience as a junior officer in the Navy helped with this. The last comments in the piece are that intelligent leaders should 1) seek creative metaphors and 2) speak charismatically. Coming to the fleet from a bachelor&amp;#x27;s in physics, I knew I was reasonably intelligent, but also that there were some people &lt;i&gt;much&lt;/i&gt; smarter than me (at least my battered ego assured me of that).&lt;p&gt;So, walking aboard a frigate with sort of an academic&amp;#x27;s self-awareness and certainty that the world is an uncertain place, I had to lead a division of sailors who would do things that just left me dumbfounded. &amp;quot;Why would you attempt to drive through the closed base gate?&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Why would you test the 440V circuit with your fingers?&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Why would you go in the engine room without hearing protection?&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Do you realize you installed all the valves backward?&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Where did you meet this woman? No, she can&amp;#x27;t come on the ship!&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Then you have to get these folks to do work. They&amp;#x27;re not lazy, but trying motivate them with the bigger picture could be challenging. Metaphor came to hand more and more. And you sort of settle in. You&amp;#x27;re &lt;i&gt;not&lt;/i&gt; intellectually challenged, and repetition and comfort bring confidence, which makes charismatic patterns of speech easier.&lt;p&gt;When I went to grad school, I found myself using these same patterns of speech to get things done. And I still do. It&amp;#x27;s always poor form to toot your own horn, but the last few years, I have to say, I&amp;#x27;ve realized more and more, having a hard science degree and early leadership experience are an extremely valuable combination. I have no idea how I&amp;#x27;d be doing what I do now without that.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Balgair</author><text>BTW love the username : &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Kilroy_was_here&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Kilroy_was_here&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>