Member-only story
“I can’t work for my boss. He is incompetent!!!”
A friend texted me earlier today. He was fuming as his boss was not taking his advice and, in his mind, making “illogical decisions.”
“I don’t understand how he can want the project to take this approach when it is obvious that it will take more time, resources, and is unlikely to meet the client’s needs.”
To my friend, the approach to take was clear. He could see it, but his boss could not. His boss must be dumb. Otherwise, how can smart people make stupid decisions?
After my friend had sufficiently ranted and vented, I asked him to consider the following possibility ….
I said when smart people make supposedly “stupid” decisions, it might not be that the smart person is dumb. It could simply mean that they know, or see, something that you don’t. Perhaps, if you knew what they know, and saw what they see, then perhaps your “simple and obvious” approach would be wrong.
So the next time you find yourself criticizing your boss, consider if perhaps you do not know or see everything that your boss knows and sees. And that the “stupid decision,” is in fact the wiser one.
P.S. This also applies to those criticizing the G’s COVID response.
