Never Hire A Brilliant Man

So, thanks to jaylake I got a link to this wonderful article called Why I Never Hire Brilliant Men. Now, the style is dated (the article appeared in February, 1924) but the substance is brilliant (sorry, couldn’t resist). I know – I used to work for a brilliant man and watched him drive his company straight into the dirt.

The article is lengthy, but two fictional names, Carroll and Adams, describe my ex-boss. Key characteristics:

* Magnetic personality with a facility for making quick friendships.
* Non-detail oriented. My boss would frequently not come in to the office, and when he did, it was for a high-level, breezy discussion. Requiring him to make detailed decisions would visibly upset him.
* Generate a grand idea, get everybody excited and starting to execute, but lose interest and go in a different direction.
* Provide inconsistent leadership. I recall on several occasions being told I was vital to the organization, but then getting yelled at for either
a) Doing something without calling the boss (even if I did and he didn’t answer the phone).
b) Not doing something that my boss thought he’d told me to do but hadn’t.
* Overly optimistic. My employer’s grand plan was to take a small firm of 15 employees and franchise it nationwide.

Now, lest you think me negative, I understand that many great things have been accomplished by brilliant men. But most of the successful ones, especially the ones who created a lasting organization as opposed to an individual success, had a detail guy behind them in the wings. More importantly, they listened to the detail guy.

I'm going to be out of town tomorrow and Thursday at a business conference. I have something pre-written for tomorrow, so if I get time I'll post it. If not, you know why.

ETA In comments, baron_waste tells me that the "brilliant" behavior described above are symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).