Feeling Smarter Than Your Boss or Elders? How Do You Handle It?

Talent, knowledge, intelligence, and maturity (though expected) have nothing to do with experience, position (designation), or age. There is a possibility that you are more intelligent and knowledgeable than your boss and/or parents or other elders. There is also a possibility that your subordinates, juniors, and children are more talented, knowledgeable, and intelligent. So, what to do when you find that:

1) You are more talented, knowledgeable, intelligent, and mature than your boss, parents, and seniors?
2) Your children, subordinates, juniors are more talented, knowledgeable, intelligent, and mature than you?

Do share your experiences.

Thanks and Regards,
Sanjeev

Hi Sanjeev!

Nice topic you have initiated. It is very much possible in organizational and social setups. I am sure there will be good discussion and debate over this.

My views:

This is a reality. The difference in intelligence, knowledge, maturity is irrespective of age, caste, gender, qualification (social setup) and position, experience (organizational setup).

In organizational setup, this comes into highlight more than in social setup.

In the organizational setup, faulty structures/reporting lines lead to a lot of problems - frustration, delayed decisions, decreased efficiency, attrition, etc.

Solution:

360-degree appraisal.

The reporting authority one level above, if remains active and observant, can intervene at times and take corrective actions, including restructuring of the setup.

The other side:

Many times, subordinates show immaturity by considering themselves superior to the supervisors or perceiving supervisors as inferior to them based on a few incidents or cases. Due to the halo effect, they keep perceiving all the actions/decisions by the supervisors as wrong/incorrect/based on inadequate knowledge.

Social setup:

We may/are losing a great amount of talent through this. Social sector experts to opine further.

- Hiten

Any subordinate respects his supervisor only when the employee realizes that the supervisor knows more than him, and there is something to learn from him. Otherwise, the 'respect' is only superficial. The same probably applies to social relations as well.

- Hiten

Dear Sanjeev

I believe that this is a nice topic to discuss about….but the thing is that even after proving the same that you are more intelligent than your boss or your elders or your parents …..nothing can be done.

The reason is that you can't become parent of your own parents and they can't become your child in this situation, they will remain your parents and you will remain their child. Similarly, if you are Asst. manager and your boss is manager then you can't be manager and he can't be your subordinate.

The things has to go on in the similar way as they were going earlier. There is no solution to this particular problem whether you start any kind of performance appraisal practices in your organization. Either you'll have to leave the organization or your boss has to do the same or finally you have to compromise the situation. There is no other way you can go for.

Whereas through compromise probably you can get respect from your boss and the next level, this is possible. But this could also be done in a sensible manner.

Regards

Khalid

I assume that you have read the psychology and management theory of "Parent, Adult and Child"...

I am agree with Khalid. What else one can do is to be a cunsultant of your boss/senior / parents .
By this way you can satisfy their ego & will prove your domain & skills . But this should be done in a very neutral & co ordial way other wise diffrent meaning can be brought out.
Brajesh

Dear Sanjeev,

I have been working for the last 2.5 years and have noticed that people do not share their knowledge and often try to hide facts. When a senior realizes that his subordinate is more talented and intelligent, he tends to assign them menial tasks to protect his own position.

However, it is not a good practice. It is a great opportunity to work with someone more intelligent than oneself. We should always strive to learn from such individuals. This holds especially true because in today's competitive world, very few people remain with the same company for more than two years. Learning from others' experiences can be highly beneficial in the long run.

Regards, Vivek Himachali

Yes, very much and very often possible. However, it will not become a problem for both ends if:
- Subordinates understand that IQ is only one small aspect in total working experience. Factors like maturity and EQ contribute more, for which he/she must look up to a boss and will always find many things to learn from him.
- A boss takes this fact as a strength for the team and can delegate accordingly. This will add to the satisfaction of both, the way it happens in a family.

The more open we are towards this fact, the easier it will be to utilize this strength rather than feel threatened or frustrated. Social and emotional intelligence in handling this will play an important role.

Ranjana Mittal

Hi dear,

It's really interesting and informative, a good topic. It happens in life, but when it happens in the family, then there is a problem. In the family, parents are sometimes supportive or negative in this regard. While they know that this guy is right, despite the fact that parents or other family members do not support him. Sometimes you may think you are clever, smart, and talented, but it's your perception. You are not looking beyond this boundary line, while the ground reality is totally different.

Hi Sanjeev,

A nice topic to discuss on!

You may be more intelligent than anybody else, but the question is, will it help you become successful? I have evidence that the GM who is interviewing you may not hire you if he perceives you to be more intelligent than him, out of fear. What will you do then?

I have a friend with an elderly boss who often agrees with my friend's suggestions. It's because my friend brings a modern and advanced perspective due to education, while the boss is not well-versed in modern technological advancements. Does this mean my friend is more intelligent? I believe not! The boss possesses immense knowledge and experience. I think there is a distinction between intelligence and knowledge.

Nevertheless, there are individuals who can make quick and favorable decisions. Is this what we call intelligence? Can someone define an intelligent person? I would be happy to learn the answer. In my opinion, everyone has their own way of thinking and decision-making abilities. It depends on the situation and how effectively one uses the opportunity to make favorable decisions.

I hope the discussion will continue!

Regards,
Anuradha

Hi,

When one is more intelligent than the boss, it is safer to throw forth ideas and suggestions but not in a self-seeking manner. Rather by getting one's boss to buy into the idea and push it out as your boss's idea at a management level with most of the recognition going the boss's way. The truth is most humans are complex, attention-seeking, and in a competitive market-place, would love to be on top (power or position-hunger). The subordinate thus has to play it diplomatically to keep the job while not discomfiting the boss technically. Remember the boss ultimately has the power. This way a balance is maintained not to stifle ideas and to keep all happy. I utilized this approach successfully until I was asked to represent my ex-boss at an event. That was when my talent shone through. Patience, diplomacy, and genius.

Conversely, if a subordinate is more brilliant, one has to utilize such talent to further one's targets as it will ultimately be attributed to one's management savvy and all credit or discredit eventually lands on the boss's table. So, it is best not to stifle such talent but to encourage tactically so as not to jeopardize one's standing while tapping into the talent-mine.

I rest my case.

Imoisili

Hi!

I left my first job within 3 years because of my boss. He was not swifter, more mature, or more intelligent than me (I am being very gentle here), but he had spent more years than me in the organization. Actually, there were inter-unit transfers in the HR department, and it was felt that I was too inexperienced to head the department for the site. He was placed above me. I had been working happily and productively for more than 2.5 years and was never looking for a change. After my new boss joined the site, within 4 months, I decided to quit and did quit.

This is what happened to me.

- Hiten

Hi Sanjeev,

Nice topic that you have posted. I would say, never mind who is superior or inferior either physically or mentally (physically meaning age and designation factors, mentally referring to knowledge). Keep in mind to share resources and gain knowledge, even if your child is more intelligent than you in some ways. Accept that and be prepared to gain knowledge from what they have. Nowadays, in the competitive world, we should be flexible and ready to adapt to the work and social environment.

Technically, there is proof that a hot body is cooled by taking the heat off and vice versa. Similarly, by sharing others' knowledge, we can balance each other.

In conclusion, I would say that in this situation, we should accept temporary defeat and be flexible to share the knowledge resources available abundantly in the external world.

Regards,
cgnanij

Hi,

This is a good topic. While I like and agree with Khalid's views, I am inclined to play devil's advocate and ask what kind of intelligence we are discussing - viz. Knowledge, Emotional, Spiritual, Financial.

How difficult would it be to interact regularly with an individual (boss/family member) who badly lacks in some or all of the above?

Any views?

Regards,
Ryan

Hi all,

Let me share my experiences related to the above thread.

In some cases, when we have staff who are more intelligent than us, we should thank them. We can manage them as our advisors in certain situations or promote them to positions that align with their competencies.

Alternatively, if we believe we are more intelligent than our boss, the first thing we should do is to handle the situation maturely by:
- Not underestimating our boss
- Not blaming our boss for mistakes
- Being smart and preparing for how we can develop our organization so we can advance our position

Bambang

The importance of emotional intelligence in the workplace

This eleven-year-old thread from the archives has been unearthed to discuss the impact of having intelligent bosses or colleagues in the office atmosphere. It is a pity that Ryan's question has been unanswered. Since we are discussing office working, what is more pertinent, in my opinion, is Emotional Intelligence. A great deal of emphasis is generally placed on having competency in functional or domain skills. Expertise in this is often regarded as a measure of intelligence, which at best can be a combination of subject knowledge and IQ. IQ and functional/domain expertise are bound to vary from person to person. Emotional Intelligence is the one that has to be considered for cohesive working, team building, success in operations, and results, etc.

V. Raghunathan

Chennai