Maybe, but nothing worse/more annoying than a dumb ass trying to take the lead and telling others what to do when they have no clue what they’re talking about. Be careful of that.
May be that “dumb ass” has bad (-) leadership qualities …but atleast he is willing to try…
Well, unfortunately trying doesn’t hit the bottom line. I haven’t been in the workforce too long, but from what I’ve gathered, it is key to know your strengths and know when to step up and when to play a supportive role.
Your example, RR, doesn’t establish anything about whether leaders are born or made. In a group of 5 people, one person will tend to try to dominate/lead the group. Even if we accept that statement as true, there is nothing about that observation that demonstrates that the reason that person did it is genetic. Maybe that person did it because of how that person was raised, or the way his family handles issues, or because he just happened to like the SRK movie where he saw someone do that, and the cold eggs he had for breakfast that morning made him decide to try.
Pulling numbers out of my a$$ I’ll say that 90% of the population has suffient aptitude to score higher than 600 on the GMAT and and 70% can crack 700. Everyone can talk right? How difficult is it to remember thousands of words, phrases, spelling, etc., harder than GMAT…just takes time.
@finkid I actually meant that CFA CAN be mastered with Practice. I worded my sentence incorrectly. Have edited my post. @rahulroy I have to disagree with you. I think the main cause for many people who want to stand up and take a lead or believe that they can lead the group in the right direction fail to even get the courage to do so because they have this deep rooted in grained fear inside there head like " what others will think about them", “what if people reject them”, “what if people question their authority” or “what if people write them off or deny to be leaded”. The key is to gain confidence and develop self esteem. Leaders are not born. Its just that some people are already high on confidence and lead the pack immediately. Some people have a leader inside them…but for some reason are not able to unlock it due to various psychological barriers.
Some are born great. Some achieve greatness. Some have greatness thrust upon them.
This is one of the things I struggle with personally. I think I’m sufficiently apt and my resume demonstrates it, but many of my real competitive advantages is things that are incredibly hard for someone to know before they work with me, such as the things being mentioned in this thread. You ever seen a candidate do a good job of demonstrating these traits in the interview process? I imagine everyone’s canned behavioral interview questions try to make them seem like easy to work with people who get things done without a fuss, but it’s often not true.
+1
I will take arrogant asshole over incompetence any day
My facorite prof from grad school had a rule - he could handle incompetence, and he could handle attitude. Just not both at the same time.
I think it was Emerson who said: ‘Work is genius.’ Whatever natural gift you have, if you don’t work at it, you will never be great.
I agree with PalacioHill.
I don’t think this issue is that cut and dry.
My freshman year roommate was a monster. He was a math and CS double major, and barely did any work (top 25 CS program in the country). Before every exam, he would study 2-3hrs while playing computer games and manage to get mostly A/Bs (thats with a curve). While I had other friends who aren’t naturally technically gifted work their ass off for years struggling to learn the material.
Anyways, after all these folks graduated college and ultimately learn the same course material, my friends who struggled but completed the courseload became better programmers/engineers and were promoted to technical managers, while my old roommate is still just a senior.
So while some people might have to spend 1000hrs to understand material while others might only need 200hrs, after that point, work ethic and creativity will be the determining factor in achievement.
Or maybe he doesnt want to be a manager? I managed eams before and currently manage several people as well. If i had a choice i would have 0 reports, but in it you cant make D or MD in bank unless you manage. Maybe your friend is senior llhft working for renessance?
I do like young and smart analysts who are super eager to learn and know when to STFU.
Given a population of 30K he would have likely been the smartest person on the planet. He would have designed the spear chucker, invented the net, noted the plants that curved various ills, studied moon/tide patterns, navigation by stars, animal migration patterns, all sorts of stuff. Not him, but someone like him did all that, and showed others.
But yeah, aptitude is fixed…that doesn’t mean one can’t get a decent score on a learnable test.
For those that are convinced that aptitude is fixed, consider the possibility that you are not 100% sure this is the case. If a person is 90% sure that aptitude is fixed, but that’s high enough for them to make sure they never strive to improve, then there is now 100% certainty that this particular individual’s aptitude is fixed.
If a person is 90% sure that aptitude is fixed but believes there is a chance that deliberate practice can alter skill-on-demand and therefore career performance and possibly life outcomes, then this other person spends time on the lottery ticket that is the 10% “not fixed” chance and there becomes a possibility that this person is able to generate more productivity, value and creativity than before. If even a fraction of these people make something more of themselves than subscribing to the “woe is me, life is controlled by the man” crutch, then the world is better off as a result.
It is difficult to accept this for the class of individuals who believe that they are better than everyone else, as it is easy to say, “look at me, I’m in the top 5% of whatever, and look at these dumbasses below me who can’t f&%king figure it out.” And nobody is asking you to take on the difficult social challenge of helping these people reach their potential, but just consider that intellect and creativity, to some degree, are more malleable than these holier-than-thous would have you believe.
I have a similar friend. Pretty much did nothing in undergrad beside go to class to meet chicks and got all A’s. Then in law school he reversed it and never went to class, never, and just studied a week before his exams and got by (not top of the class like undergrad, but still passed everything). He’s a somewhat succesfull dude now, but nothing like the workalholics I’ve known over the years that are killing it.