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I can only assume that you were trying to say that the more intelligent leaders are worse because they cannot understand more complex systems as easily and ther

I can only assume that you were trying to say that the more intelligent leaders are worse because they cannot understand more complex systems as easily and therefore require things to be done with lower cognitive load. Regardless of how simple your delivered system ends up being, you still have to understand what problems you're solving and the reasons behind it. This is almost always a product of factors outside of your control. Let's assume that in the worst case, you're going to be facing a very complex situation. Now you have three possible outcomes here when delivering. A) Your solution is simple, because you either did not grasp (or were otherwise unaware of) the complexity of the problem, did not acknowledge it, or disregarded the severity of the problem. Or your organization's engineering culture puts pressure on you to cut corners (e.g. "Move Fast and Break Things"). B) Your solution addresses the complexity of the problem, but it was a lot of work to solve and you did not have the time or experience needed to build it in an elegant or optimally maintainable way. C) Your solution addresses the complexity of the problem, and is built in a reasonably elegant, simple manner. Which of these did you say correlates with intelligence again? Edit: There's also a fourth outcome, reserved for the real rockstars out there. D) Your solution is to not solve the problem at all, because you found a way to avoid your organization/product having to deal with the problem to begin with, or you otherwise re-assessed the assumptions surrounding the problem. The famous post from a few years ago "Why I Strive to be a 0.1x Engineer" comes to mind.

crimsonalucard 7y ago
Good leaders tend to use the intelligence of their team to determine direction and design. They have meetings and empower team members to perform at 110% by giving the team members ownership and clearing away obstacles. Less intelligent people are better at this because they have no choice but to do this. Less intelligent people do not have the cognitive power to design the full system so they have to resort to relying on the team to do it. Very intelligent people tend not to do this. They rely on their own intelligence to direct the team and often times just use the team members as grunts to implement there grand designs. No matter how smart you are, your cognitive powers will always be lower than the cognitive powers of the entire team combined, therefore any attempt to have the team follow your lead rather you following the lead of the team will be worse off. The science supports this. Teams with leaders that empower team members are statistically more successful than teams that don't. My anecdotal observation is that these types of leaders tend to be the less intelligent types. They empower you and than get out of your way because they really don't have the intelligence to get in your way. Here are two statistics about humanity that will lend support to my thesis. Your IQ does not correlate with how successful you will be in life, success being measured as how high you climb the corporate ladder and how much money you make as an individual. This is an actual correlation. In direct contradiction to this... the average IQ of a country highly correlates with the economic success of that country. These two statistics say something about the nature of leadership. It says that leaders succeed off the backs of people more intelligent than them.
- Shaanie 7y ago
  I'm not sure if I'm misreading something, but are you claiming that higher IQ does not correlate with higher income? You'll have to source that claim, if that's what you're claiming.
  - crimsonalucard 7y ago
    You are not misreading something. I made a mistake. IQ does correlate with salary but that correlation is weak and a higher IQ brings in only a slightly higher salary. Correlations between IQ and GDPs however are very strong and a small increase in average IQ is correlated with a significant jump in GDP. My source is the hive mind book, and my original footnote about IQ was incorrect and completely wrong. My original thesis still stands though. Do you have any thoughts about that? The whole IQ and success thing was just a footnote. I shouldn't of added it in, as you are correct in identifying that the footnote was completely wrong. I believe in admitting mistakes and not charging forward with bias so please critique anything you disagree with... I want critiques that address more than the footnote.

crimsonalucard 7y ago

Good leaders tend to use the intelligence of their team to determine direction and design. They have meetings and empower team members to perform at 110% by giving the team members ownership and clearing away obstacles. Less intelligent people are better at this because they have no choice but to do this. Less intelligent people do not have the cognitive power to design the full system so they have to resort to relying on the team to do it. Very intelligent people tend not to do this. They rely on their own intelligence to direct the team and often times just use the team members as grunts to implement there grand designs. No matter how smart you are, your cognitive powers will always be lower than the cognitive powers of the entire team combined, therefore any attempt to have the team follow your lead rather you following the lead of the team will be worse off. The science supports this. Teams with leaders that empower team members are statistically more successful than teams that don't. My anecdotal observation is that these types of leaders tend to be the less intelligent types. They empower you and than get out of your way because they really don't have the intelligence to get in your way. Here are two statistics about humanity that will lend support to my thesis. Your IQ does not correlate with how successful you will be in life, success being measured as how high you climb the corporate ladder and how much money you make as an individual. This is an actual correlation. In direct contradiction to this... the average IQ of a country highly correlates with the economic success of that country. These two statistics say something about the nature of leadership. It says that leaders succeed off the backs of people more intelligent than them.

Shaanie 7y ago
I'm not sure if I'm misreading something, but are you claiming that higher IQ does not correlate with higher income? You'll have to source that claim, if that's what you're claiming.
- crimsonalucard 7y ago
  You are not misreading something. I made a mistake. IQ does correlate with salary but that correlation is weak and a higher IQ brings in only a slightly higher salary. Correlations between IQ and GDPs however are very strong and a small increase in average IQ is correlated with a significant jump in GDP. My source is the hive mind book, and my original footnote about IQ was incorrect and completely wrong. My original thesis still stands though. Do you have any thoughts about that? The whole IQ and success thing was just a footnote. I shouldn't of added it in, as you are correct in identifying that the footnote was completely wrong. I believe in admitting mistakes and not charging forward with bias so please critique anything you disagree with... I want critiques that address more than the footnote.