This is often why autistic people don’t climb the ranks in technical organisations, even if we are much better at our jobs. Some places create technical specialist roles that are equivalent status but there is a premium on leadership qualities rather than technical excellence.
The Egyptians built the pyramids by moving huge blocks of stone on skids. This was achieved by organising vast amounts of manpower. What they needed was some autistic people to point out that only a handful of people are required if you use some wheels.
Your post is obviously super self-serving, but I wanted to note:
there is a premium on leadership qualities rather than technical excellence.
There is a distinction between leadership and management. Both are, in fact, important. And technical excellence is not useful if its not applied in the right direction.
only a handful of people
doesn’t seem like that was really the point. the point was to waste resources on a pointless glorifying memorial – if wheels made it go faster, they would have built more or bigger.
what i said was theres value to leadership and to management and if you read between the very visible lines I added that part of their role is determining a coherent path to follow. Thats not to say there are not bad leaders (like those who built the pyramids), or bad leaders (like elon musk, who has no coherent vision). Its also no to say there are not bad managers (like Biden, who seems to barely be at the helm day-to-day) or bad managers (like Elon musk, who does not have the organizational capability and is therefore incompetent).
Pretending that a mass of smart or skilled individuals will spontaneously organize and not be torn apart by internal disagreements is possible, but rare. Look at bands. The beatles really had 7 good years between stardom and shit-hitting-fan. They did really good individual work but they didnt build a pyramid. In contrast, look at linux: whatever technical talent Linux has is outstripped by far by the power of his vision and his standards for how the system must evolve. He, like elon, is famous for being a dick: Linus still gets volunteers.
I don’t disagree. Management and leadership is indispensable for organisation of large groups of people who are attempting to achieve a singular objective. There are important distinctions between the different styles of thinking and operating. The ‘social animal’ is characterised by charisma and ability to persuade, the ‘creative’ is characterised by the ability to think logically and imagine. The reason everyone knows the name Jobs and doesn’t know Wozniak is because Jobs is the charismatic influencer and takes credit for the work of Wozniak. In the case of Apple, it seems they have managed the balance between the styles of thinking to their great advantage but that isn’t the case in most places. Political and business people still hold much more power due to their ability to persuade and deceive. This is changing due to the influence of technology, the bailiwick of the creative type. There ought to be balance in our decision making or we end up falling under the spell of some charismatic psychopath.
This is often why autistic people don’t climb the ranks in technical organisations, even if we are much better at our jobs. Some places create technical specialist roles that are equivalent status but there is a premium on leadership qualities rather than technical excellence.
The Egyptians built the pyramids by moving huge blocks of stone on skids. This was achieved by organising vast amounts of manpower. What they needed was some autistic people to point out that only a handful of people are required if you use some wheels.
Your post is obviously super self-serving, but I wanted to note:
There is a distinction between leadership and management. Both are, in fact, important. And technical excellence is not useful if its not applied in the right direction.
doesn’t seem like that was really the point. the point was to waste resources on a pointless glorifying memorial – if wheels made it go faster, they would have built more or bigger.
Found the aspiring manager!
what i said was theres value to leadership and to management and if you read between the very visible lines I added that part of their role is determining a coherent path to follow. Thats not to say there are not bad leaders (like those who built the pyramids), or bad leaders (like elon musk, who has no coherent vision). Its also no to say there are not bad managers (like Biden, who seems to barely be at the helm day-to-day) or bad managers (like Elon musk, who does not have the organizational capability and is therefore incompetent).
Pretending that a mass of smart or skilled individuals will spontaneously organize and not be torn apart by internal disagreements is possible, but rare. Look at bands. The beatles really had 7 good years between stardom and shit-hitting-fan. They did really good individual work but they didnt build a pyramid. In contrast, look at linux: whatever technical talent Linux has is outstripped by far by the power of his vision and his standards for how the system must evolve. He, like elon, is famous for being a dick: Linus still gets volunteers.
I don’t disagree. Management and leadership is indispensable for organisation of large groups of people who are attempting to achieve a singular objective. There are important distinctions between the different styles of thinking and operating. The ‘social animal’ is characterised by charisma and ability to persuade, the ‘creative’ is characterised by the ability to think logically and imagine. The reason everyone knows the name Jobs and doesn’t know Wozniak is because Jobs is the charismatic influencer and takes credit for the work of Wozniak. In the case of Apple, it seems they have managed the balance between the styles of thinking to their great advantage but that isn’t the case in most places. Political and business people still hold much more power due to their ability to persuade and deceive. This is changing due to the influence of technology, the bailiwick of the creative type. There ought to be balance in our decision making or we end up falling under the spell of some charismatic psychopath.