They say it is better to be a lovable fool than a hated wiseacre.
Whilst the knowledge and smartness cannot be denied, dubious intent and a negative desire to hurt, injure, insult and bring down someone else hall-marks the wiseacre. Flim-flam and chicane is never acceptable.
The intention of the fool is never questionable, on the other hand. It is his knowledge, discretion and wisdom that is in doubt...or rather not in doubt. One is transparent - the other, rather secretive. Both are certainly dangerous for leadership .
The problem is that a fool is easy to identify so his chances of getting into leadership roles are low. The wiseacre is disguised and identified much later. The chances of his getting into leadership are high.
Systems and Organisation processes therefore need to be on the alert to weed out the wiseacres from leadership roles, once identified before they can destroy the fabric and culture of your organisation.
In a quick fun survey of 35 people and friends over the week end (and we do some of these fun surveys often ) 6 believed that their Boss was a fool. 14 believed that their Boss was a Wiseacre and only 15 believed their Boss was suitable for the leadership position.
I am sure that the 6 would easily get weeded out over time. The real problem are the 14 who have the capacity to disguise the cross-over line and the potential damage they can cause to the organisation. All I would say - good luck to my friends working under them. May you not suffer disengagement, demotivation, depression and disconnection.
Where do you think that your Team will place you ?
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