Why do smart people do stupid things at work? This is the Stupidity Paradox and it applies to many organizations across the world.
We’ve all seen it: stupid decisions, mindless actions and absurd behaviors in organizations by people that we would normally qualify as intelligent, smart or even brilliant. Why does this happen?
The cause, according to Mats Alvesson and André Spicer, is “functional stupidity.” In their book, The Stupidity Paradox, they describe the phenomenon whereby people in a particular function in an organization do exactly what is expected of them uncritically, without thinking.
There are five types of functional stupidity:
Leadership-Induced Stupidity
This happens when people in organizations blindly follow their leaders, because these leaders are supposed to know. They have followed MBAs or leadership courses and just because of their higher position in the organizations, their thoughts, advice, suggestions or directions are accepted uncritically.
Structure-Induced Stupidity
When they grow organizations have to divide the work. This often leads to silos and chasms between departments, divisions or locations, to the extent that one part has no clue anymore what the other is doing. What seems smart and efficient within the unit, may be inefficient or even dysfunctional at the organizational level.
Imitation-Induced Stupidity
While best practices and smart imitation can be great sources of improvement and effectiveness, the mindless and unaltered imitation of what other, often more successful organizations, are doing, can be detrimental for an organization. The reason is that what works for one organization in one context at one specific time, does not necessarily work elsewhere.
Branding-Induced Stupidity
It’s not uncommon for organizations to boast and blast their achievements and inflate customer expectations through over-branding and over-selling. While that in itself can harm long-term performance, the real problem appears when the organization’s people actually start to believe the inflated language used.
Culture-Induced Stupidity
Habits, symbols and values of the past may no longer be relevant. Furthermore, some that have developed may hinder progress, especially if they suppress dialogue, critique and conflict. Groupthink, risk aversiveness and intolerance for different opinions are all great causes of functional stupidity.
Time to assess how much functional stupidity there is in your organization. Which of the five kinds require the most attention in your organization?
VCs are also increasingly irrelevant. They operate off the industrial age model where in order to build something you first had to go to a bank to build something. In 1980s, if you wanted to build a startup then you had to get capital and connections. You had to sell the idea to the VCs, and then you got the chance to sell it to the public. Now, you can simply sell, and if you get sufficient demand then you can raise capital but do it in a position of strength rather than thinking of them as magical gatekeepers who bless the business for success. VCs know this, and so they dispense all sorts of advice in order to propel their status as magical gatekeepers.
THIS. Thank you for saying what most founders feel, but are afraid to say...
lol love this
Forms of stupidity: (From Jeroen Kraaijenbrink - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jeroenkraaijenbrink_why-do-smart-people-do-stupid-things-at-work-activity-7220080007421800449-vGKW/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios)
Why do smart people do stupid things at work? This is the Stupidity Paradox and it applies to many organizations across the world.
We’ve all seen it: stupid decisions, mindless actions and absurd behaviors in organizations by people that we would normally qualify as intelligent, smart or even brilliant. Why does this happen?
The cause, according to Mats Alvesson and André Spicer, is “functional stupidity.” In their book, The Stupidity Paradox, they describe the phenomenon whereby people in a particular function in an organization do exactly what is expected of them uncritically, without thinking.
There are five types of functional stupidity:
Leadership-Induced Stupidity
This happens when people in organizations blindly follow their leaders, because these leaders are supposed to know. They have followed MBAs or leadership courses and just because of their higher position in the organizations, their thoughts, advice, suggestions or directions are accepted uncritically.
Structure-Induced Stupidity
When they grow organizations have to divide the work. This often leads to silos and chasms between departments, divisions or locations, to the extent that one part has no clue anymore what the other is doing. What seems smart and efficient within the unit, may be inefficient or even dysfunctional at the organizational level.
Imitation-Induced Stupidity
While best practices and smart imitation can be great sources of improvement and effectiveness, the mindless and unaltered imitation of what other, often more successful organizations, are doing, can be detrimental for an organization. The reason is that what works for one organization in one context at one specific time, does not necessarily work elsewhere.
Branding-Induced Stupidity
It’s not uncommon for organizations to boast and blast their achievements and inflate customer expectations through over-branding and over-selling. While that in itself can harm long-term performance, the real problem appears when the organization’s people actually start to believe the inflated language used.
Culture-Induced Stupidity
Habits, symbols and values of the past may no longer be relevant. Furthermore, some that have developed may hinder progress, especially if they suppress dialogue, critique and conflict. Groupthink, risk aversiveness and intolerance for different opinions are all great causes of functional stupidity.
Time to assess how much functional stupidity there is in your organization. Which of the five kinds require the most attention in your organization?
VCs are also increasingly irrelevant. They operate off the industrial age model where in order to build something you first had to go to a bank to build something. In 1980s, if you wanted to build a startup then you had to get capital and connections. You had to sell the idea to the VCs, and then you got the chance to sell it to the public. Now, you can simply sell, and if you get sufficient demand then you can raise capital but do it in a position of strength rather than thinking of them as magical gatekeepers who bless the business for success. VCs know this, and so they dispense all sorts of advice in order to propel their status as magical gatekeepers.