Ask the Geezers

Why I Don't Want to Work with "Smart" People

Question: Many people I work with (management & engineers included) are smart people. But "being smart" alone doesn't help them to be good managers or good engineers. Sometimes I wish they are "less smart" when they are just being stubborn. Do you have any tips to work with the "smart & stubborn" people?

Amiram: The million dollar question... Asking people to be "less smart" is an unlikely solution. Let's focus on more realistic solutions. I'd use the following keywords in my answer: education, maturity, patience and involvement.

When people are young and inexperienced, they have a tendency to look at a problem from a very narrow angle, come up with a solution to the perceived problem, and argue to death that this is the only solution, and nothing else would work. This is where education comes in. The more people are educated, the more they understand that the real problem contains a lot more than the originally perceived one. The range of solutions is wide, and multiple solutions could work.

So first: Educate. Make sure that they see the problem at hand as it really is, that they are aware of the variety of solutions available.

Second, maturity. When people mature, they gain wisdom in addition to smartness. I copied the "answers.com" first definitions for "wise" and "smart". Smart people may know what to do, wise people have better judgment.
Wise: Having the ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting
Smart: Characterized by sharp quick thought; bright

You as manager need a lot of patience. In fact, as a manager, patience is an extremely important trait. You have to listen, you have to coach. You have to present problems in a way that will keep the path to solution open. You have to present solutions, but not force them implemented. You shouldn't judge. You should always remember that most people do learn, most people do mature eventually.

Lastly, involvement. Engineers really don't like to be told HOW to do things. They want problems to solve. Get them involved in the process, they will appreciate it, and will be less stubborn and more productive.
If you're into it, there are countless games and short presentations. You may want to check out this site: http://www.leadersinstitute.com/teambuilding/team_building_tips/index.html

Sin-Yaw: Nowadays, EQ -- an indicator for social skills -- decides success more than IQ does. The abilities to plan for life, to delay instant gratitude for future, to communicate and understand others, and to have principles but not being stubborn are so much more important than being smart. Given that people at Sun are frequently at the top of their high-school classes, EQ is the differential.

First make the above point understood so that this person has the incentive to improve.

Then teach him or her the art of listening and understanding others. When someone disagrees, first seek understanding on the rationale and background of such disagreement. Stubbornness disappears when the differences in understanding disappear.

Mike: We should all remember that intelligence is the price of admission at Sun. Working with smart people can be energizing, and it fuels creativity. Honestly, working with young, smart folks is one of the things I have enjoyed the most about being at Sun for the past fourteen years.

Alas, though, there are some who are convinced that they are the brightest bulbs in the sign and set out to prove it at every opportunity. You call them "stubborn" but I call them "obnoxious smart people" or OSP's for short! IMHO most of these folks are just out to polish up their gigantic egos by belittling those around them, as though only one person in a conversation is allowed to be smart. I've mused for years about an imaginary opera called "TOSGA -- The Only Smart Guy Around" that plays out before me more than I would like.

There is no one person who knows everything; we all have holes in our knowledge sets and blind spots as well. The problem in dealing with an OSP is to find a way to help him be less defensive about his own ability and more appreciative of what others can contribute. No easy task, and a real test of your "influence power".

As managers at Sun, we use "coercive power" and "bestowed power" a little less, and influence more, than in some other companies. To influence an OSP you have to be considered worth listening to, to become interesting. That might require researching an esoteric subject (e.g., skin bacteria, the sex life of plants, weather science, magnetic propulsion) in order to become an instant expert, complimenting the OSP's intelligence, dropping the names of other smart people the OSP is known to respect (if there are any), or any other tactic that you can think of. Deal with facts and data instead of opinions whenever you can, but be creative, because creativity is often the OSP's stock in trade. Remember that the purpose here is to build a path around the OSP's ego instead of battling it head-on.

In most cases, the OSP is not the least bit shy about stating his opinion, so you will have to diminish the effect by asking for others to speak up. Sometimes it may take a "conspiracy for good" so that some of the others in the group are ready to do the same thing.

One last point: We often use the term "focused" for people who persistently do something we like. "Stubborn" is applied to those whose actions we don't like. The person's actions might be the same in both cases. Maybe only our reaction and the connotation of the words we use in describing them are different. We need to turn those OSP's into "FSP's".

Posted at 11:34PM Feb 06, 2007 by Wen Michelle Lei in General  |  Comments[0]