>In my experience the best people have been pretty chill, bathe every day, observe general social decorum, and try not to act like jerks. I refer to both PhD an

>In my experience the best people have been pretty chill, bathe every day, observe general social decorum, and try not to act like jerks. I refer to both PhD and those sans BS it depends on what you mean by 'the best' - some of the most effective people i know (in terms of 'getting things done' and making money) are somewhat less technically skilled, but have those social skills you are talking about. It really does give them an edge. Nobody is saying that social skills and technical skills are not better than technical skills alone. However, for people who are technically skilled enough, well, they get a lot of slack when it comes to social skills. The best technical people I know require some of that slack. social skills, just like technical skills, require effort and practice... nobody has the time to become the best at everything.