How to Work with Stupid People

I write a lot about being smart and trying not to be stupid. Well, here’s a good post by Jason Crawford on how to work with stupid people. It’s not what you’d expect.

He takes a line of thinking I really like:

I consider myself reasonably intelligent, yet I have had no problem surrounding myself with people at or above my intellectual level. I’ve also had good relationships with co-workers at all levels of intelligence. Unless you’re a world-class genius (statistically unlikely), you are probably mis-diagnosing people as stupid.

He goes on to give excellent advice on rethinking how to behave when you’re in this situation.

In the comments I offered this:

The problem here is more psychological and emotional than intellectual. Not to assume the other guy is stupid means you have to be willing to acknowledge the stupid guy might be you. Which is something most people do not have the generosity, courage or patience to explore, even for 30 seconds. (How else will you ever learn anything?)

Read the full article here: How to work with stupid people

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Posted Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 at 1:05 pm

in Management, philosophy | 14 Comments »

Dorian Taylor - April 27, 2010 at 2:06 pm #

I like to think in terms of smart enough rather than plain smart. Consider leaving a dog in a back yard. Anybody who has done this knows it is a mistake to assume that it’s just a dog and therefore not smart enough to find a way to open the gate (or find some other way to escape).

It seems safe enough to assume that people differ physiologially in intelligence just as they do in height or eye colour. It is at least as hard to ascribe values to certain quantitative measurements of cognition as it is apparent physical traits.

There is also the issue of what is stupid. I distinguish stupidity from ignorance and apathy, because I believe it is important to know when somebody doesn’t know, doesn’t care, or knows and cares but doesn’t process.

I guess that makes me in agreement with the motion to stop worrying about where we place on the IQ scale and ensure our eyes stay attached to our brains.

BenAlabaster - April 27, 2010 at 3:53 pm #

Do I understand the implication of your comment correctly?

Meaning 1: by acknowledging that you may be the stupid guy you, you’ll never learn anything

Meaning 2: unless you acknowledge you may be the stupid guy you’ll never learn anything?

Not being 100% sure of my interpretation of your meaning, I’m not exactly sure how to respond.

I’m of the opinion that unless I’m generous enough to consider that I might in fact be the idiot, then who do I learn from?

Even if someone is not as intelligent (stupider if you will) as me, it doesn’t mean that there is nothing they can teach me. There are things to be learned from everyone around us, in all walks of life and from all backgrounds and levels of intelligence. Obviously we can’t take information from everyone at face value and assume it’s right, we have to apply some critical thinking – but that doesn’t mean that a “stupid” person has nothing they could teach a genius.

Scott Berkun - April 27, 2010 at 4:21 pm #

Ben:

I meant meaning #2. Unless I consider I might be wrong, or more specifically, am not as smart as I think I am, I will rarely be in a position to learn anything.

As Jason points out in his article “stupid” is sloppy. There are many kinds of intelligence and ability lumped together in that word.

Much of the time I find the real issues are in communication. Person B doesn’t understand what person A says. Person A assumes person B must be stupid for not understanding. But in reality there is a better way Person A could have expressed himself. Good communicators are less likely to blame the other person than the bad ones.

Mohamed Mansour - April 27, 2010 at 6:06 pm #

There is also the issue of what is stupid. I distinguish stupidity from ignorance and apathy, because I believe it is important to know when somebody doesn

steve - April 27, 2010 at 10:02 pm #

Good article and good comment. There always is a chance “the stupid guy might be you” true true.

Personally I try to see everyone as an equal, in the end we are all human. =]

pradeep chandar - April 27, 2010 at 10:13 pm #

Stupid people will be stupid unless they realize and take necessary steps to be smart.

There we could differentiate the person who is in the process of learning and the person who is not ready to(stupid). So we will not be stupid unless we can realize and be ready to change ourselves in case. The best thing We can do is to give them some time or chance to change

Eric - April 28, 2010 at 9:04 am #

Great article, spotty organization. Maybe it’s only my personal taste, but I find it difficult to read/fully absorb content that is bullet point-heavy.

I think that the author has a great foundation for a much longer, more in-depth article.

The Gerbster - April 28, 2010 at 6:53 pm #

One important rule I’ve learned in decades of working in large and small organizations: THE STUPID PERSON RULE. Always listen to everyone. Sometimes, even a stupid person has a good idea.

Dr. Robert Hume - May 30, 2010 at 4:33 pm #

Looking back on the last twenty five years, in my humble opinion: the whole of the populous has descended in to a new low of stupidness. from health care all the way down to your average every day moron or in layman’s terms: Everybody is turning in to a dumbshit!
I just have one question: what dumbass would want mercury
in there body?
The C.D.C.anounced that they were going to start putting mercury in the H1M1 vaccine the surgeon general of the united states left the meeting and then phoned his wife to advise there yungest daughter (who just found out that she was pregnant) not to get the shoot because of the efects on the unborn baby. Now there giving babys to injections of their supposedly mercury free (B.S. ist a lower dose of mercury) The two shoots are to off set the total effects of the mercury then if they were to give them the full dose in the one shot! THERE CALLING IT A Preservative, but believe it or not, there are people that are swallowing there bullcrap! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!
I have lost my practitioner’s license because of wy warnings in the past wich only leaves me to thing that there
trying to dumb us all down / why? As one of the leading toxicologist in my field. or X toxicologist in my field i just can`t understand why they want to posion the people of the united states?? this is the reason the above info is false