Bob Sutton: Brilliant But Cruel

Bob Sutton: Brilliant But Cruel: "if you look at the evidence on the kind of people that we see as powerful and intelligent, that –- independently of how smart a person actually is –- when they act like an asshole, they are seen as smarter. This “Brilliant but Cruel” effect was demonstrated in a study by Harvard Business School's Teresa Amabile. She did a controlled experiment with book reviews; some reviews were nasty and others were nice. Amabile found that negative and unkind reviewers were seen as less likeable but more intelligent, competent, and expert than those who expressed the same messages in kinder and gentler ways. She summarized her findings by noting, “Only pessimism sounds profound. Optimism sounds superficial.”"

"So, if you want people to think you are smart, apparently you can feed their stereotypes by demeaning others. In Barash’s case, the attack might have been justified, but there are other times when people turn cruel for no good reason, except perhaps for personal gain. I should also warn you that although unleashing your inner asshole may help persuade people of your intellectual superiority, we also show in The Knowing-Doing Gap and Hard Facts that the climate of fear created by such nastiness undermines team and organizational effectiveness. Potential victims become afraid to try (or even mention) new ideas and hesitate to report mistakes or problems out of fear that the resulting anger and humiliation will be aimed at them."