Smart, Ambitious, Hard-Working People Are No Longer Rewarded for Memorization & Access to Information

Here’s what now gets you the real kickass rewards

Mr Ph.D joined my team in the bank.

He could recite facts from hundreds of years of history. He had the best memory I’d ever seen.

But that’s where the advantages ended.

I don’t quite remember his background, but he was approximately 50 years old and had just gotten his Ph.D. This education was part of a career change. He came to our team through some sort of graduate/college program.

We tried him out.

Even a simple spreadsheet caused a meltdown.

Why? He had to liaise with other departments. He had to ask them for things and had no idea how. When he sent random emails that read like 5000-word philosophical essays, no one responded.

He never thought to just walk up to their desk and get the data.

Every task required a grandiose plan that had to be vetted by all of us. Progress happened at a snail’s pace, if at all.

It came to the end of his trial. “Sooooo … do you want to keep him?” said HR.

My boss: “God no.”

After a long discussion with him over what would be his last lunch before he got fired, it became clear he thought access to information was sexy. And he took real pride in all the stuff he memorized over a lifetime of academia.

But he couldn’t do, well, anything in the real world. Despite his ambitious goals and ability to work hard.

 
Seth Godin’s version of the “new smart”

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Πηγή: timdenning.substack.com