Surrounded by idiots

 

While on a week’s leave I read Surrounded by Idiots. I hoped  it might explain why, every now and then, I leave work wondering if I've accidentally wandered onto the set of a sitcom.

The book's answer is both simple and valuable: we're not surrounded by idiots at all. We simply communicate differently. What feels obvious to one person may never occur to another because we process information in different ways.

That insight genuinely helped me.

But it also made me realise something else.

Musing on it I realised my frustration wasn't entirely about communication;  the feeling of being "surrounded by idiots" can have several different causes. Communication style is one. But so are differences in conscientiousness, curiosity, experience, the willingness to think critically, and the confidence to speak up. Recognising which of those is at play helps me respond better - and be fairer to the people around me.

And sometimes it's something different altogether: the difference between completing a task and engaging with it. Between following a process and thinking critically about whether it's still the right process. Between doing enough and taking genuine pride in doing a job well.

Neither approach is inherently better. If you're flying a plane or operating a treatment works, following the procedure matters.

when we're solving new problems, designing new assets or making important decisions, progress benefits from an open mind.

Understanding communication styles has made me more patient.

Now I'm wondering whether understanding conscientiousness, curiosity and critical thinking might make me even more patient.

Perhaps I'm not surrounded by idiots after all.

Perhaps I'm simply surrounded by people whose job, experience or preference is to follow a procedure and to deliver today's answer

And, if I'm honest, I probably drive them just as mad.

Has a book, film, poem or something else ever helped you realise that you'd been asking the wrong question all along?

I've realised that the feeling of being "surrounded by idiots" can have several different causes. Communication style is one. But so are differences in conscientiousness, curiosity and the willingness to think critically. Recognising which of those is at play helps me respond better—and be fairer to the people around me.

A few weeks ago I read Surrounded by Idiots.

I was hoping it might explain why, from time to time, work leaves me wondering, "Why on earth did nobody question that?"

The book's answer is both simple and valuable: we're not surrounded by idiots at all. We simply communicate differently. What feels obvious to one person may never occur to another because we process information in different ways.

That insight genuinely helped me.

But it also made me realise something else.

Perhaps the feeling of being "surrounded by idiots" doesn't have just one cause.

Sometimes it's communication.

Sometimes it's experience.

Sometimes it's confidence to speak up.

And sometimes it's something different altogether: the difference between completing a task and engaging with it. Between following a process and thinking critically about whether it's still the right process. Between doing enough and taking genuine pride in doing a job well.

I've been guilty of assuming those are all the same thing. They're not.

Understanding communication styles has made me more patient.

Now I'm wondering whether understanding conscientiousness, curiosity and critical thinking might make me even more patient.

Maybe the challenge isn't deciding whether we're surrounded by idiots.

Maybe it's learning to recognise which difference we're actually noticing before we jump to conclusions.