Confirmed. "Why People Dislike Really Smart Leaders" by Matthew Hutson makes me sad.
The article didn't provide any new scientific insight into 'why'. It merely restated the findings of a study confirming that highly intelligent leaders aren't liked. I've already intimately known the problem, so no surprise there.
But I am most saddened that the study's author thinks highly intelligent leaders can fix their popularity problems by becoming more charasmatic speakers.
For one, I could actually use scientific studies to make a substantial case that most of the 12 characteristics of charisma are anathema to high intelligence.
For example:
Self confidence vs highly intelligent people (HIP) are supremely aware of their weaknesses
Rapport vs from a young age HIPs have larger vocabs available to them than what averages understand, making connection more difficult
It's been my experience that answering the question of 'why' the perception of ineffectiveness persists - in spite of objective results to the contrary - can be explained only by irrational causes.
ie the current anti-intelligence fad and the tendency for humans in corporate settings to respond negatively when feeling insecure (ie not the smartest person in the room)
And though I don't know if there can be a cure for an irrational cause, I am confident the cure is not found in joining Toastmasters.
Definitely flawed research.
ReplyDeleteAnalogy 1: Sports cars.
I like sports cars, but I dislike how many are driven. Perhaps there is a correlation between sticker price, horsepower, and driver aggressiveness. I would never report that I dislike cars because of sticker price or horsepower. If someone offered me one, I would take it.
Analogy 2: Rich people.
Many people dislike rich people; and the richer they are, the more some people dislike them. Some (maybe most) of the dislike comes from the way people with big money behave, but some also comes from jealousy. I don't think they dislike the money itself - they sure wouldn't decline an offer to transfer some to their bank account.
No one I know dislikes smart bosses except for reasons other than intelligence, but no one wants a boss who is uncaring, manipulative, or jealous. There is plenty of research about the importance of Emotional Intelligence or Emotional Quotient, and best-selling books posit that it is more important than IQ in many situations.
There is also plenty of research about how to do research, and to ignore potentially correlated variables (and not control for them) renders the conclusion weak or unusable.
It would seem unlikely that the author or the researchers are Mensa candidates, but might be jealous of those who are.