With your high IQ, you will kill your startup
This is my translation of the article by Max Klein (Max Klein) - Your high IQ will kill your startup . Frankly speaking, I do not know who he is. Just looking through the morning the Delicious hotlist saw his article and, having read it, wanted to share it with you.
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In 2004, being in Brazil, I went down the hill to Lapa to have lunch. I had a friend with whom I met at the hotel - his name was Ofer. The topic of our conversation was intelligence and its role in success.
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A man came out to meet us from the side of the road. In one hand he held a knife, and in the other a bottle. In Portuguese, he told us to give away our belongings. I was confused and did not know what to do. And Ofer began to quickly tell him that he did not rob.
I must tell you that Ofer was an Israeli soldier. He hated violence in any form, but he knew how to be tough.
The robber broke a bottle on the ground and rushed at us. I ran, and Ofer stayed and tried to persuade the attacker not to commit a crime. The robber made several attacks, and each time Ofer simply dodged to the side.
And finally, Ofer knocked out his weapon, hit him, and he fell to the ground. Then he told me to run, and we ran down the hill to the restaurant.
When we sat, Ofer continued to talk about our subject. He said: this confirms what I said. The man with the knife did not know how to use this knife. If he had been trained in knife fighting, as well as melee, he could have killed me. But he simply had a tool that gave him a sense of superiority, but this is nothing compared to a person without a tool, but who knows how to use what he has.
Mind like a knife. If you are smart, then you have a clear advantage over those who are not very smart. But if you are smart, and the other person (not smart) will train more than you, then he will very quickly compare with your abilities.
How your intellect will destroy you
People who were born smart, all beginnings are easy. They do not need to strain to get good grades, they do not need to spend much effort to move forward. The main occupation in youth is school, and it is intended for ordinary people. Therefore, the smart just flow with the flow.
But there comes a time when every intelligent person is confronted with something that requires more than just intelligence. It requires hard work, it requires the ability to survive failure, it requires to perform boring tasks in harsh conditions. For the first time in their lives, despite their intelligence, they are being questioned, and they fail. For example, when you first try to create a startup.
And here most of them retreat. They focus on things they cannot do, and forget about other, more important things. They begin to look for the guilty (for example, the education system). They hesitate. They do not face new challenges, because they think that they will not be able to cope with them, and this does not fit into their world view that they are invincible.
Now let me tell you another story.
In 2007, I had lunch with my girlfriend's father in Paris. At the moment, he is the vice president of one of the 5 best consulting companies in the world. He is a Jewish immigrant from Morocco. Arriving in France in the 70s without money and connections, he did what allowed him to become a vice president, despite the fact that he studied engineering.
I asked him: how did you manage it? How did you start with an immigrant and become a company manager?
He answered me: I achieved this because I am smart. But there were a lot of smart ones when I finished my studies. They are engineers so far. The difference between us is that when I came here, I understood that I have no family here, no connections. And there were a lot of smart guys who had all these advantages. The only way to become successful at that time was to gain an advantage over them - I had to work and prepare more than it should have, I had to know more people than them, I had to learn more than them.
We started on an equal footing, but at some point all the efforts that I put on began to pay off, where others stopped and stopped improving themselves, I continued, and my situation got better and better. Where they were afraid to try new things, for fear that they did not work out, I tried and it became better for me. Thus, I gained experience and knowledge, until I became good enough for the work that I now have.
What does this have to do with you
Being smart is like having a knife. If you exercise every day, you will be invulnerable. But if you think that just having a knife will be able to win in any battle, then you will lose. This blind belief in own abilities will destroy your startup. Success comes with work and your ability to become a little better than others, and not because of the genius that is in you, as you think.
So do not think that if you have a brilliant idea, this is all that is needed for success. Your daily activities, the search for new ways, the study of new ways that have many small failures will make you successful, all this will make you the best.
UPD: Moved to translations.
______________________________________________________________________
In 2004, being in Brazil, I went down the hill to Lapa to have lunch. I had a friend with whom I met at the hotel - his name was Ofer. The topic of our conversation was intelligence and its role in success.
')
A man came out to meet us from the side of the road. In one hand he held a knife, and in the other a bottle. In Portuguese, he told us to give away our belongings. I was confused and did not know what to do. And Ofer began to quickly tell him that he did not rob.
I must tell you that Ofer was an Israeli soldier. He hated violence in any form, but he knew how to be tough.
The robber broke a bottle on the ground and rushed at us. I ran, and Ofer stayed and tried to persuade the attacker not to commit a crime. The robber made several attacks, and each time Ofer simply dodged to the side.
And finally, Ofer knocked out his weapon, hit him, and he fell to the ground. Then he told me to run, and we ran down the hill to the restaurant.
When we sat, Ofer continued to talk about our subject. He said: this confirms what I said. The man with the knife did not know how to use this knife. If he had been trained in knife fighting, as well as melee, he could have killed me. But he simply had a tool that gave him a sense of superiority, but this is nothing compared to a person without a tool, but who knows how to use what he has.
Mind like a knife. If you are smart, then you have a clear advantage over those who are not very smart. But if you are smart, and the other person (not smart) will train more than you, then he will very quickly compare with your abilities.
How your intellect will destroy you
People who were born smart, all beginnings are easy. They do not need to strain to get good grades, they do not need to spend much effort to move forward. The main occupation in youth is school, and it is intended for ordinary people. Therefore, the smart just flow with the flow.
But there comes a time when every intelligent person is confronted with something that requires more than just intelligence. It requires hard work, it requires the ability to survive failure, it requires to perform boring tasks in harsh conditions. For the first time in their lives, despite their intelligence, they are being questioned, and they fail. For example, when you first try to create a startup.
And here most of them retreat. They focus on things they cannot do, and forget about other, more important things. They begin to look for the guilty (for example, the education system). They hesitate. They do not face new challenges, because they think that they will not be able to cope with them, and this does not fit into their world view that they are invincible.
Now let me tell you another story.
In 2007, I had lunch with my girlfriend's father in Paris. At the moment, he is the vice president of one of the 5 best consulting companies in the world. He is a Jewish immigrant from Morocco. Arriving in France in the 70s without money and connections, he did what allowed him to become a vice president, despite the fact that he studied engineering.
I asked him: how did you manage it? How did you start with an immigrant and become a company manager?
He answered me: I achieved this because I am smart. But there were a lot of smart ones when I finished my studies. They are engineers so far. The difference between us is that when I came here, I understood that I have no family here, no connections. And there were a lot of smart guys who had all these advantages. The only way to become successful at that time was to gain an advantage over them - I had to work and prepare more than it should have, I had to know more people than them, I had to learn more than them.
We started on an equal footing, but at some point all the efforts that I put on began to pay off, where others stopped and stopped improving themselves, I continued, and my situation got better and better. Where they were afraid to try new things, for fear that they did not work out, I tried and it became better for me. Thus, I gained experience and knowledge, until I became good enough for the work that I now have.
What does this have to do with you
Being smart is like having a knife. If you exercise every day, you will be invulnerable. But if you think that just having a knife will be able to win in any battle, then you will lose. This blind belief in own abilities will destroy your startup. Success comes with work and your ability to become a little better than others, and not because of the genius that is in you, as you think.
So do not think that if you have a brilliant idea, this is all that is needed for success. Your daily activities, the search for new ways, the study of new ways that have many small failures will make you successful, all this will make you the best.
UPD: Moved to translations.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/86572/
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