I was just out walking around the bays listening to Harvard Business IdeaCasts [Podcasts] on my iPod and one particular interview had me chuckling – probably to the amusement of those I passed along the way. It was on “Leading Clever People” with Gareth Jones – author of the book Clever – Leading Your Smartest and Most Creative People. The reason for my mirth was the personality profile attributed to such types – you see it wasn’t totally flattering, but being a person typically dubbed by others as ‘clever’ I had to admit identifying with what he was claiming. In particular, clever people:
Jones’s definition of ‘clever’ people is those who add disproportionate amounts of value to their organization – not those necessarily with Harvard MBA’s or high IQ.
They can be extremely difficult – they dont want ot be leaders, yet they certainly dont want to be lead. However, they are most effective when they have the discipline of peer boundaries, when they are lead in the right way. He does add that although they are difficult, they are well worth it [pulled a few memory files from the men in my life]. Hey – who wants to be easy, to be boring, the be blandly following the status quo – I am one for travelling the road less travelled, and if that makes me difficult in the eyes of others, then I have succeeded in breaking out of their tedious view on life. [we are not defensive either!!]
Clever people are capable of breakthroughs
The book focuses on how to locate, understand and manage clever people
They are not compliant – from the age of 3 it was identified that I was ’seemingly very obedient and compliant’ – however it was rided with ‘when it makes sense to me to do so’. When rules don’t make sense to me, I don’t go out to challenge the rule, I just find a way to negate it and work around it. I don’t like conflict, it is a complete waste of time, and typically driven by egos – and clever people are not impressed by egos or fashions. They are impressed by other clever poeple and quality.
Explain and persuade them – don’t tell them what to do. Remember, clever people don’t follow the normal paths – if you try to tell them what to do and how to do it you are pushing them down the road to the same bland outcomes that the routine and mundane churn out.
Do use your expertise – don’t use your hierarchy or title. So true, clever people are not impressed by who you think you are, they are impressed by what you know and what you demonstrate in action. I also don’t afford much value to
Tell them what to do, but don’t tell them how to do it. They get extremely irritated by being told what to do. The more challenging the problem, the more they will rise to the challenge, but get out of their way on how to resolve the problem.
Sounds like a great book – worth checking out.
Where I didn’t align with Gareths personality attributes – is that they don’t give thanks – maybe this was valid when I was younger and didn’t know that I was clever, and thus discounted things others did that I didn’t regard as important or contributing to something important – however as I have gained more wisdom with age, I am highly grateful to those who enjoy doing the more mundane administrative tasks, and do them well. They add significant value to my life by negating the need for me to perform such tasks.
People can also be clever in all kinds of contexts – personally, I don’t have much time for academic cleverness, I do admire those everyday people who invent fascinating things in their garages, or who grow large businesses from small beginnings and survive all means of hurdles – now that’s clever. Such people humble me, and it is why I really enjoy living in New Zealand. The population at large may not be that sophisticated on an international scale – but overall, they are clever. They are innovative, adaptable and will keep at a problem until they resolve it.
Thank goodness it takes all types – I would be exhausted dealing with a whole world like me!!
I was just out walking around the bays listening to Harvard Business IdeaCasts [Podcasts] on my iPod and one particular interview had me chuckling – probably to the amusement of those I passed along the way. It was on “Leading Clever People” with Gareth Jones – author of the book Clever – Leading Your Smartest and Most Creative People. The reason for my mirth was the personality profile attributed to such types – you see it wasn’t totally flattering, but being a person typically dubbed by others as ‘clever’ I had to admit identifying with what he was claiming. In particular, clever people:
Jones’s definition of ‘clever’ people is those who add disproportionate amounts of value to their organization – not those necessarily with Harvard MBA’s or high IQ. In describing clever people he included that:
They can be extremely difficult – they dont want ot be leaders, yet they certainly dont want to be lead. However, they are most effective when they have the discipline of peer boundaries, when they are lead in the right way. He does add that although they are difficult, they are well worth it [pulled a few memory files from the men in my life]. Hey – who wants to be easy, to be boring, the be blandly following the status quo – I am one for travelling the road less travelled, and if that makes me difficult in the eyes of others, then I have succeeded in breaking out of their tedious view on life. [we are not defensive either!!]
They are not compliant – from the age of 3 it was identified that I was ’seemingly very obedient and compliant’ – however it was rided with ‘when it makes sense to me to do so’. When rules don’t make sense to me, I don’t go out to challenge the rule, I just find a way to negate it and work around it. I don’t like conflict, it is a complete waste of time, and typically driven by egos – and clever people are not impressed by egos or fashions. They are impressed by other clever poeple and quality.
The book focuses on how to locate, understand and manage clever people. A few insights on this:
Explain and persuade them; don’t tell them what to do. Remember, clever people don’t follow the normal paths – if you try to tell them what to do and how to do it you are pushing them down the road to the same bland outcomes that the routine and mundane churn out.
Do use your expertise; don’t use your hierarchy or title. So true, clever people are not impressed by who you think you are, they are impressed by what you know and what you demonstrate in action. I also don’t afford much value to
Tell them what to do; don’t tell them how to do it. They get extremely irritated by being told what to do. The more challenging the problem, the more they will rise to the challenge, but get out of their way on how to resolve the problem.
Sounds like a great book – worth checking out here.
Where I didn’t align with Gareths personality attributes – is that they don’t give thanks – maybe this was valid when I was younger and didn’t know that I was clever, and thus discounted things others did that I didn’t regard as important or contributing to something important – however as I have gained more wisdom with age, I am highly grateful to those who enjoy doing the more mundane administrative tasks, and do them well. They add significant value to my life by negating the need for me to perform such tasks.
People can also be clever in all kinds of contexts – personally, I don’t have much time for academic cleverness, I do admire those everyday people who invent fascinating things in their garages, or who grow large businesses from small beginnings and survive all means of hurdles – now that’s clever. Such people humble me, and it is why I really enjoy living in New Zealand. The population at large may not be that sophisticated on an international scale – but overall, they are clever. They are innovative, adaptable and will keep at a problem until they resolve it.
Thank goodness it takes all types – I would be exhausted dealing with a whole world like me!!
