Natural born losers
by Volker Weber
Although I am 45 years old, have met a lot of people, and worked very well with most of them, I am still missing one concept:
How does one deal with ignorance?
I know how to handle arrogance, I know how to deal with incompetence. But ignorance is a combination of those two failures. And it is the direct road to disaster.
Of course you can let disaster happen and simply document it. But how do you prevent it? Is there any good way to convince an ignorant person that he may be wrong? Even if he feels so superior that he thinks he can safely ignore you?
Comments
Just ignore those ignorant inferiors ;-)
I have to agree with Heiko. The only other solution that comes to mind would be to just shoot the person in question. But that'll only work if a) you're sure not to be caught and b) you're dead sure that the next occupant of the now vacant position will do better.
Honestly, although not having the years of experience you have, I've given up on working on that particular problem. If someone is really desperate to hit the wall, let her/him do so. Turn away from the project (if possible), otherwise stop to put your heart into it (in case you did). Normally, there is _no_ way to prevent the crash. You might be able to postpone the inevitable but that will cost you plenty of your resources. And you'll later realize that you should have better spent them elsewhere.
Well, that's just my experience. As you would say: Your mileage may vary.
Oh, and if you find any solution: please let me know.
Simply place a high bet.
...btw, you are not talking about the IBM roadshow, are you?
Nope. I never talk about things that are closely related. I let a few weeks pass just to make sure nobody feels insulted.
Hey, Volker, I meant to say 'great weather'.
LOL
Udo Vetter scheint eine Lösung gefunden zu haben. Obwohl, das ist wohl eher "Let disaster happen".
Others had that problem before and didn't solve it:
"If you think education is expensive - try ignorance"
Derek Bok (a former President of Harvard)
The best advise I found so far came from the Atomic Cafe:
"Duck and cover"
:-) stw
I second Heikos method.
If all else fails, let the project fail, as Udo could say.
I always thought ignorance was the easiest to deal with, because all they are lacking is education, so educate them. Incompetence has always been my difficult one. How do you deal with it (and arrogance, while we are at it)?
Arrogance is the easiest one. It is a sign of weakness. You have to make the arrogant person feel unthreatened and he will drop his armor.
Maybe I was mixing up incompetence and ignorance. To me an incompetent person is one that lacks knowledge. He can usually be educated. An ignorant person is one that does not even have a doubt about his own competence. Anything he does not know does not exist.
The problem with that kind of person is that in his own mind, he cannot fail. So, if disaster strikes, it will always be somebody else's fault. Of course that is not the case, and anybody but him will know it.
Because the ignorant person is unable to learn from his mistakes, he is the natural born loser.
And while we're talking about ignorance, why is it that ignorant people (based on Volker's definition) ALWAYS seem to be the ones promoted to mid-level management?
And I agree about making the person feel unthreatened. It takes quite a bit of work - you have to first make them feel unthreatened, then convince them that the right course of action was their idea. Gaining positive results with an ignorant person takes a tremendous amount of selfless effort. The trick is trying to determine when it is time to cut your losses and let the project fail WITHOUT becoming the scapegoat for the failure.
Although the "shoot them" idea has merit as well :>
There is only one strategy that I've come up with for dealing with the type of ignorance that you describe. The trick is to make the ignorant person believe that he thought up your ideas before you did! It takes time and a great deal of finesse. Jedi mind tricks help, but those of us who lack that particular set of skills can still use phrases like "I've been working on understanding the problem you described and I've been trying to get at the root of your ideas, and based on some additional research and analysis that I've done I think your plan and mine are essentially the same, with just some minor differences like..." This certainly won't always work... but it sometimes can be done. The typical ignorant mind is able to endure some really torturous twists of logic to justify its own brilliance. It also takes a realization that you will likely have to actually let the ignorant one take the real credit for your ideas. The only thing noble about this is that you do get the job done, and behind the ignorant manager there will sometimes be a perceptive executive who recognizes where the ideas are really coming from. In the consulting business, one hopes that the perceptive executive is the one who signs the checks.
-rich
... a short one
1. don't feel manipulated
2. act without re-acting as if there's no ignoring behavior
3. remember counter-manipulating strategies will be ignored, too
4. calm your mind - not every aim has to be reached
Just ask for more money ;-)
