[nandan]

I agree. Striking the right balance between abstractions and low-level details, is the mark of a genius. Put differently, the size and nature of the building blocks a person uses, in order to tackle a problem or to communicate with others is, to me, a very good indicator of how smart that person is.

I have been in situations where the balance has tipped far too much in either directions. Far too much reliance on abstractions, without understanding the details and we get the stock, garden variety Business person. Far too many details used in thinking and communicating leads to tedium, and interestingly can come off as patronizing, if its done often enough.