Current Events > Ghostwriter explains success in business requires you to be UN-INTELLIGENT!

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm been working as a ghostwriter for some years, and over this period I've written several books with entrepreneurs and businessmen. Several of these clients were extremely wealthy. Not in the Elon Musk league, but easily rich enough to invest their money, have a very comfortable income, own at least one property, and never work again. Of course, none of them were doing this!

Over time, I've become more and more fascinated by the factors that drive people who are wealthy to attempt to accumulate more, and to endure experiences that aren't in any way enjoyable, when they are free to do literally anything. There are many characteristics that, in my view, underpin this, including narcissism and the love of attention, insecurity, obsession with status, attempting to compensate for some perceived weakness or inadequacy, upbringing and social example, and just simple lust for money and power. I also believe that making money simply becomes a form of compulsive addiction, and if heightened attention and / or being placed on some form of pedestal is added to the mix, then it can become highly potent.

But through interviewing successful entrepreneurs, I realised something critical about businesspeople generally. If you want to be successful in business, it's a disadvantage to be intelligent. Probably most people have realised that there is no correlation, let alone causality, between intelligence and business success. But I would argue that intelligence is actively disadvantageous.

None of the people that I've worked with in this area have been particularly bright, even by their own admission. And it became clear to me that this is important for three reasons, with the third reason being critical.

By virtue of not being intelligent:

They don't question whether or not what they're doing is worthwhile;
They are less likely to feel empathy for people that they exploit / trample on (this is more debatable, but there is some evidence that intelligence correlates with empathy);
Critically, crucially, they don't get bored. They can talk about business for hours and hours and hours, and they never get bored. Trust me, they never get bored!

It was only through having meetings with several such people that I realised this. If I'm not doing something creative or actively enjoyable, I get bored extremely quickly. The Internet has probably contributed to this, but I think this tendency is inherent within me. I remember that when I had a conventional job, all I ever used to think about at work was when I could go home! Conversely, their capacity to hold meetings, and talk for hours, about stuff that doesn't even need to be discussed, can only be described as heroic!

That's why it's a major disadvantage to be intelligent if you want to succeed in the capitalist rat race. Because not only will you question whether or not it's worthwhile (clearly, it isn't worthwhile), but what you have to do to succeed will become utterly tedious extremely quickly. Whereas, less intelligent people are able to concentrate on these boring things, these activities that are bereft of any form of creativity or engagement, for inordinate periods of time.

While I am sceptical about some of the claims made about extended working hours, this also partially explains why businesspeople are able to invest such punishing hours in work. While this is physically tiring, the main reason that it's hard to do is that it becomes mentally draining. You or I could never do this because our brains would tell us: you've been doing the same thing all day. This is boring. It's also pointless. Stop doing it!. But that never happens to them. This is also why they can't understand why everyone isn't like them.

This further applies to people that work, seemingly gleefully, within the system. My parents, for example, never appeared to become tired of work, or bored. When I had a job, I was literally bored to tears every single day of my working life. I don't think that they have ever experienced this. And I think it comes down to an infamous comment by George Carlin:

They want obedient workers. Obedient workers. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it.

They don't question whether or not what they're doing is worthwhile;
They are less likely to feel empathy for people that they exploit / trample on (this is more debatable, but there is some evidence that intelligence correlates with empathy);
Critically, crucially, they don't get bored. They can talk about business for hours and hours and hours, and they never get bored. Trust me, they never get bored!

I also wanted to cite the case of Theranos - another good example would be the Madoff case - because some people will inevitably assert that really successful people can't be stupid. How could they achieve that level of success if they're not intelligent?

If you're not familiar with this company, they claimed that they could deliver some incredible blood testing technology, attracted loads of venture capital, and then it all turned out to be based on lies
.
On the board of Theranos were:
Henry Kissinger (former United States Secretary of State);
Jim Mattis (retired Marine Corps four-star general);
George Shultz (former United States Secretary of State);
Richard Kovacevich (former CEO of Wells Fargo);
William Perry (former United States Secretary of Defense);
William Foege (former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
Investors included:
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who led a $5.8 million Series A in February 2005;
Venture capitalist and Draper Fisher Jurvetson partner Tim Draper, who remained an outspoken defender of Theranos at least until 2018;
Oracle Executive Chairman and founder Larry Ellison;
National pharmacy and retail chain Walgreens.
Rupert Murdoch, for example, lost $125 million. Inevitably, the media commented on this by wondering how all of these rich people had been duped. They must be super-intelligent, purely because they've got money, right?

They were duped because they're not necessarily particularly intelligent, yet probably all have massive egos, and thus think they can invest in biotechnology even though they know nothing about it, and have thus broken the number one rule of investing don't invest in something that you don't understand (hence, I also mentioned the Madoff case).

You will note that some of the venture capitalists remained outspoken defenders of Theranos at least until 2018. By this stage, it was monumentally obvious that Theranos was collapsing in fact, the company did collapse in 2018 and there was literally no evidence that they could deliver what they'd promised. And yet, Theranos is still being defended by someone who is set to lose tens of millions of dollars, with absolutely no recourse! Because he's probably pretty thick, full of hubris, and simply can't accept that he was wrong about something.

There is a mythology that surrounds the wealthy, particularly in the United States. Yet, in many cases, all they have done is work out how to manipulate stupid people. Almost anyone with any intelligence can see through them, but such people are always in the minority.

It actually took me several years to work this out, so I can't be that smart! But I was sat in a meeting with one guy one time, and I'd often thought about how these people are so driven, and he was waffling on about something that I'd already grasped about half an hour ago. I had the feeling that I often have; this meeting offers me nothing, I'm deriving no value from this whatsoever. And it suddenly dawned on me that it's not just that these people are driven, they don't get bored, and the reason that they don't get bored is that routine stuff that would become tedious for an intelligent person is challenging enough to keep them interested. Or else, they're not intelligent enough to tackle more challenging or more creative work; this is the limit of their capabilities.

I must emphasise that I've liked virtually everyone that I've worked with. People have been very generous and complimentary towards me. I haven't met any horrible egotists, far from it. But I did come to realise that intelligence is a disadvantage if you want to be successful, unless you find a creative field or something you're passionate about. If you can identify that, you can invest your intelligence in it. If you don't find that, your life will be akin to continually battering your head against a brick wall for 60 years.

What kind of psychopath hides a link behind a spoiler blackout.

Should lead to moderation imo.

lmao

what is your complaint about this?

To see the spoiler i have to tap it, which leads me to the link.

A lot of time success in anything stems from knowing one thing in particular very well, at the sacrifice of not knowing a lot of general knowledge.

For example...sports. Particularly football. Learning an NFL Level playbook would take someone that never played the game months, possibly years, to comprehend. But even the seemingly most unintelligent athlete can switch teams, and get the playbook down in a week.

Often it's a matter of it being the only thing they know.

Silly example, but I think of the stories about Vince McMahon. It's widely known that his pop culture knowledge doesn't go beyond what was popular in the 1960's and 70's, but (controversies aside) he ran his business to the point where it was valued at $5.5 Billion when he stepped down.

interesting point

I'm sure she's talking about not having integrity more than anything else.

1. They don't question whether or not what they're doing is worthwhile;
2. They are less likely to feel empathy for people that they exploit / trample on (this is more debatable, but there is some evidence that intelligence correlates with empathy);
3. Critically, crucially, they don't get bored. They can talk about business for hours and hours and hours, and they never get bored. Trust me, they never get bored!

By virtue of not being intelligent:

They don't question whether or not what they're doing is worthwhile;
They are less likely to feel empathy for people that they exploit / trample on (this is more debatable, but there is some evidence that intelligence correlates with empathy);
Critically, crucially, they don't get bored. They can talk about business for hours and hours and hours, and they never get bored. Trust me, they never get bored!

Because not only will you question whether or not it's worthwhile (clearly, it isn't worthwhile), but what you have to do to succeed will become utterly tedious extremely quickly. Whereas, less intelligent people are able to concentrate on these boring things, these activities that are bereft of any form of creativity or engagement, for inordinate periods of time.

While I don't necessarily disagree with their stance, this person sounds absolutely fucking insufferable.

why is that, do you enjoy things they call bereft of creativity or engagement?

That specific paragraph is written by someone entirely too impressed with themselves.

It's 150-fucking-000% le reddit "I am the smartest little boy in the room" masturbatory horseshit.

My mom's partner is a ghostwriter and he takes contracts from similar people - business owners and the like wanting to leave a flattering legacy in print. I read through one of his chapters once to give feedback, and I was struck by how mediocre the subject sounded. It wasn't the ghostwriter's fault, he just wasn't describing very interesting things. Like, the guy got his first job when he happened to be in the right spot and someone said "hey you want a job?" Nothing particularly bad, but nothing great either - the very definition of a mediocre man gently failing up. And then he hired a ghostwriter to immortalize his extremely milktoast achievements.

Yeah, and that person didn't say "I'm too smart to do these things because look at me being smart."

Gee, thanks for the explanation, some guy on reddit

Considering it's the anti-work reddit, it's far beyond dubious.