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| stupid beyond all belief  |
interesting discussion. EQ > IQ, EQ is definitely more important. Ever see a "team" of all-stars get beat by a normal team with great team work. It's because the attitude. What man is a man that does not make the world better. -Balian of Ibelin Only boring people get bored. - Ruth Burke | |||
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אַרְיֵה |
We had a dentist who did good work. He had an obnoxious attitude. My wife and I each decided to fire him; He is not the only dentist in town. Interestingly, we each arrived at this decision independently, there was no discussion between us about this prior to the decisions being made. I told my wife that I would be using a different dentist and she said, "You too? I can't stand that guy and I have made an appointment with somebody else." I wonder just how many patients have walked away from his practice due to his crappy attitude. הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים | |||
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Member |
I think it depends on the industry. The more skilled or technical the job, the higher the threshold for attitude. It also depends on how customer or team facing the individual is. Losing customers or wrecking a team is rarely worth the contributions of one rockstar. I think it also dovetails nicely into a leadership discussion. I've done a pretty decent job over the years of managing teams of highly techicnal, very difficult people. Most of these folks had never truly been lead before, and, for one reason or another, were allowed to do their own thing/act however they wanted. All they needed was some direction, communication, and vision. | |||
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| Alea iacta est |
Your argument is false on it's face because there is no such thing as a "team" of all-stars. Rock stars in any given profession are solitary individuals. We've already covered the reasons why. | |||
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| Eschew Obfuscation |
I used to work for a large tech company whose inventions were key to developing a significant new technology. We were pitching a large customer to be an early adopter. They said they wanted a briefing from the head of the development team. Our folks explained that, while he was really smart, our lead developer was a little lacking in social skills. They insisted. Our senior VP agreed. About five minutes into his briefing, the president of the customer interrupts our lead developer to ask a clarifying question. Our guy responds: "That's right. What the f**k do you think I've been talking about for the last five minutes?" That was the end of the briefing.  _____________________________________________________________________ “Civilization is not inherited; it has to be learned and earned by each generation anew; if the transmission should be interrupted for one century, civilization would die, and we should be savages again." - Will Durant | |||
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| Peace through superior firepower  |
I'll take "good at the job" | |||
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| Member |
Your customer was wanting a tech expert with charm school skills? There are attorneys that do good legal research who you would never want representing you at trial. I guess your customer thought charm was more important or was easily offended. | |||
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| Eye on the Silver Lining |
Yikes! You needed that "buffer" person a.k.a. translator. No need to make anyone feel dumb, right  __________________________ "Trust, but verify." | |||
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| Alea iacta est |
But they ARE dumb. As a guy who could easily have stood there and said that, the biggest problem is efficiency. Others often perceive this as impatience or intolerance. In reality, the core problem is inefficiency. Crazy smart types, especially programmers/engineers, their mind is wired to naturally look for the most efficient way to accomplish a given task - whether it's driving across town (if that person would have used a blinker I could have turned 7 seconds earlier instead of waiting for them to pass and they instead turn into the street I'm pulling out of!), to navigating the grocery store (why the fuck would you park a shopping cart smack in the middle of the produce section and then wander so far away from it that I honestly can't figure out who it belongs to?!), to getting dressed, tying your shoes, whatever. When your natural mental focus is on efficiency to the point that it's almost an obsession, someone asking you to repeat yourself or clarify yourself after you've already been speaking on a topic for 5 minutes is easily a capital offense. VERY inefficient. | |||
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| Eye on the Silver Lining |
I do understand what you're saying. Dumb or not, sounds like the "dummy" somehow got to be president of a company and was holding the cash to make a project go. In this instance, maybe it came down to really knowing the level of understanding the audience had - before starting the conversation. I'd say the VP was the real dummy here, allowing those two people to interact directly, but when you're trying to get money from someone during a professional sales pitch, whether you're trying to be charming or not, I wouldn't say the word "fuck" unless that verb was involved in the transaction. Changing times, I guess. If the lead developer was truly an efficient soul, he would have stopped with the words "That's right" after the clarifying question was asked. The extra sentence was superfluous, demeaning, and killed a sale. I'll stop here as I'm starting to drift.. __________________________ "Trust, but verify." | |||
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| Alea iacta est |
Understood, and I agree that the VP was to blame. But can you honestly tell me that you've never seen stupid people in positions of power?? Well, we just got done with one for 8 years.  | |||
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| Eschew Obfuscation |
Completely. Several people tried to intervene and told the VP "You do not want this guy in front of a customer". (Sorry for the thread drift  )_____________________________________________________________________ “Civilization is not inherited; it has to be learned and earned by each generation anew; if the transmission should be interrupted for one century, civilization would die, and we should be savages again." - Will Durant | |||
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| Member |
I'll take the asshole. Then again, I *am* the asshole. Sort of. I cannot stand inefficiency, incompetence, and laziness. When confronted with one or more of those things, I get rather grumpy in a timely fashion. On the other hand, when I'm grumpy and then run into someone who is fast, efficient, and competent, I perk right up. It makes me very happy to interact with a true professional. *Edit* exx1976 nailed it regarding efficiency. I really, really, really like efficiency. | |||
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