I don’t suffer fools gladly
 

So my leadership coach (venture cap guys like the execs in their portfolio companies to work with a leadership coach) identified right away that I have a short fuse for idiots...

I know that I have this weakness and I struggle with it.

What are your thoughts on dealing with dummies?

Zero tolerance for stupidity

Einstein opined, "the difference between genius and idiots is that genius has limits."

Ignore the dummies.

That will be $400.

What if the dummkopf is your boss?

Personally, when I hear the phrase "I don't suffer fools" it makes me not want to associate with the person stating that. The 'Fool Sufferer' is the one who has a lot to learn, completely unrelated to the learning required of the Fool. We all 'suffer' many people in life. Best option IMO is keep an open mind and try on many pairs of shoes.

I don’t either. My boss regularly reminds me that you catch more flies with honey so bottle up the vinegar....


Of course occasionally she will tell me it’s time to bust out the vinegar and teach the fools a lesson... so it’s a good balance.

I found working front line at a call center helped. I can sit through someone asking dumb questions for quite a while now and keep my cool. :D

That is one way not to have to get along with people. High expectations are premeditated resentments. Holding resentments is like drinking poison and expecting other people to die.

It sounds like you operate at such a high level that youy put a lot of stress on yourself, which you then deal with by taking it out on others who are not willing to operate at such a high level because of the toll on their humanity.

I used to be the best, and very hard to live with. Now I look at everything I do as if it were a service to humanity. In other words, I do the things I do to improve the quality of the lives of the people I work for and with. That would ideally include myself. People enjoy a better quality of life because of the things I produce, and ideally because of the way I behave.

A lot of people use anger as the fuel to do things that they really don't enjoy doing anymore, and they cause a lot of suffering among the people who surround them. Their bosses appreciate them like a really good tool. No one else likes them, and it becomes really easy for this to seep into the non work part of their life.

It is OK to be arrogant as long as you are responsible around it. It shouldn't be an excuse to go off on people to take out your frustrations.

It's a slippery slope. If you beat a dog with a whip, you may get him to obey, but you will never get loyalty.

And, the career coach requirement is telling. We have one member of our exec staff with a career coach...for good reason. She doesn’t suffer fools well either...what she doesn’t realize is...she’s one of them.

Isn't that generally the case ? :D Between my wife and I we spent 56 years working for the nations largest defense contractor in three different facilities on the East coast . I can honestly say we probably only interacted with 4 - 5 REAL leaders the rest were a$$ kissing back stabbing clueless dolts :( . These a$$hats expected everyone to " think outside the box ' when in reality they could barely tie their shoes ! In that scenario all you can do is hold yourself to a higher standard and do the best you can in the environment you have to work within . It is really scary how big business works .......... SO MUCH waste and minimal productivity but we had lots of meetings :D . We are so glad to have retired from the rat race .

I am the (only) prototype engineer for a large automotive parts manufacturer. I have to deal all the time with demanding design engineers, and production capabilities, on short lead times that have really picky clients. You cannot imagine the the amount of trial/error involved in developing suspension components, and the data that needs to be crunched to get the right results from our test lab. Add to this, some Japanese perfectionism, and it makes for numerous renditions of the same parts with minute differences that I am sure, no one in the real world will ever notice, or feel the difference.

I have started coming in early to potentially get out early, to avoid the late afternoon brain storming sessions that can last well into the evening regardless of previous plans. The good news is, that my current boss is my age, and is really a calm, reasoned guy who understands my plight. I am also immune to being in most meetings, and can just quietly (most of the time) work on something by myself in my huge well equipped shop....the interruptions start to mount as the day goes by however.

I am going to enjoy retirement (hopefully in 6-8 years) greatly, with all sorts of "ME" projects in my man cave shop.

Eff-em SmileWavy

I'm involved in a new business. Myself and my two partners are experts in our fields, and we all have very high levels of work commitment. We are very often dealing with others as we go about business, that are not at this level, and it is frustrating.

“Zero tolerance” for something isn’t a redeeming quality IMO. Balance works better. At some point we will all be the fool.

"For years, I was smart.
I recommend pleasant.
You may quote me."
-Elwood P. Dowd

Real idiots are fine by me, it’s the idiots that think they’re brilliant that bug me.

I like to say that I’m smart enough to know I’m not smart enough!

I don't mind idiots as long as I don't have to pay them or take advice from them.







Or they're stopped behind me with flashing lights on the roof.





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Have learned "they" are going to do what they want anyway, so just do what I'm told and practice discretion. Especially if I know of, or find a better solution to what is going on. "They" don't want to hear it.

Kill all others

I might just use the phrase "I don't suffer fools" for the first time in my life.

Every exec within the portfolio companies works with a coach, not just me as I stated in my original post.

:rolleyes: