[sarahmccrum]

I once had an employer who seemed (to me) to prefer people who were (in my opinion) pretty inappropriate for their jobs because they had so little ability to do them. I found it very difficult to understand at the time, because I generally like to have people around who are better than me at most things, so I can concentrate on what I do best.

It was interesting over the years, though, to see what happened. That particular employer was a great believer that anyone can learn anything, and she was incredibly patient with some people who really were not gifted at all in their area of work.

Above all she valued loyalty (and in key areas, such as finance, she preferred absolute stupidity). I learned a lot from her. I saw that most of the clever people who were around left, often when they were most needed, whereas the slower, more loyal people were still there getting the job done. I also learned that loyalty and commitment are more valuable than brilliance. I saw that she liked stupid people in sensitive areas because then they couldn't mess up in any serious way. They made lots of small mistakes but they didn't have the ability to make big mistakes and they always asked whenever they didn't understand what they were doing.

Personally I think there is a balance here. I would find it hard to go as far as she did, but it certainly caused me to look at people decisions in a different way, which I would never have come up with if I hadn't seen her in action.

[keeptrying]

This is very true. I've seen it at all levels of BigCo.

Loyalty is the single most important quality in a bigCo and it works (unfortunately).

[S_A_P]

The reasons I won't be an exec at a bigCo-

- I don't watch or care to talk sports. - I don't / won't hunt wildlife. - I don't discuss female anatomy freely.

I live in Houston, so most big employers are energy related. It is still somewhat of a good ol boy network and even though I'm now at a small company I see all 3 in equal parts quite often.

[jfornear]

Seriously? If you really believe this bullshit, surely you can pull together a decent round of golf since apparently it's the only thing standing between you and your big promotion... Not to get meta, but why do you have 9 upvotes?

[forensic]

>The reasons I won't be an exec at a bigCo-

..in Texas

[jfornear]

I've worked in Texas oil, have many friends who still do, and have even visited extensively with a very successful oil exec in Houston...

S_A_P's generalizations aren't fair at all.

That exec I met had a Harvard MBA, 20 years experience at his company (where he started out entry-level), extensive market knowledge/expertise, integrity, strong character, etc. Qualities that actually matter when billions of dollars are on the line.

Not sure why I even bothered to chime in.

[wladimir]

...also learned that loyalty and commitment are more valuable than brilliance

While this was true in your circumstances, and some degree of loyalty and commitment are important, I don't agree that they are "more valueable" in general. For example for technical jobs, not everyone can learn them (or at least be good at them). It seems important to have people in the right places, that have already some vision and experience in their area.

[bconway]

There's a phrase that goes something along the lines of, "The worst employees are the most loyal." While it's interesting to see how things worked out with that employer, I can't help but wonder whether it was really intentional, or whether she was as bad as hiring people as they were at doing their jobs.