I worked for managers with outstanding cognitive ability, and for others who were certainly smart but not as much. The ones with high cognitive ability didn't n

I worked for managers with outstanding cognitive ability, and for others who were certainly smart but not as much. The ones with high cognitive ability didn't necessarily make the best business leaders - they had so much cognitive bandwidth that they got nerd sniped into deep dives on every aspect of the business, and although they were familiar with the whole business operation, they didn't do the important stuff well - making decisions, making money. The ones who didn't have as much cognitive firepower knew how to prioritize, I suspect out of necessity, and made clearer, more effective decisions instead of getting in the weeds.