Why are smart people stupid?: Param Srikantia - cleveland.com

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Guest columnist Param Srikantia is a professor in the Baldwin Wallace University School of Business. He also leads a popular and contagious seminar series about unleashing human potential that has reached more than 100,000 attendees in nine cities to date. If you want to be on a mailing list for his free Sunday webinars, you may email him at psrikant@bw.edu. You can watch his TEDX talk at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE_82qwpSKI

Many of us have wondered, “Why are smart people stupid?” We usually have others in mind, though, and rarely ask this about ourselves.

Answers run the gamut. Inflated egos can make smart people act foolishly. They may underestimate what others offer and miss catching their own blind spots. Successes can cause smart people to fear failure, and they may never develop the profound maturity of judgment that life demands.

Inspired by the works of the Indian mystic Osho, who left us a legacy of over 2,000 books that help human beings live courageously outside the box, let’s explore some useful perspectives on this issue.

First, it’s important to distinguish knowledge from wisdom. Many smart people who are highly knowledgeable may be devoid of wisdom. Being smart is often about knowing how to climb the ladder; wisdom is in asking if the ladder is leaning against the right wall.

As another example, when I worked at the World Bank, I found Ph.D. economists who were, ironically, spending millions of dollars on researching poverty! It was Osho who asked, is poverty the world’s problem or is greed the real problem? Despite the obvious connection, not many economists found it necessary to investigate the role of greed in the mass production of human poverty.

Do our formal educational systems produce docile minds capable of following directions rather than asking tough questions that challenge existing paradigms? Do our graduates obediently stick to their job descriptions and become cogs in the wheel of a machine?

Real intelligence lies in developing original responses to novel problems, not in responding with readymade answers.

Even our parenting practices demand obedience to authority, often blunting the intelligence of children and parents alike. Unless education and parenting philosophies celebrate creative rebellion, the intelligence of humanity is compromised.

How can we vaccinate ourselves from the virus of stupidity? Osho reminds us that we are quick to doubt other people’s minds, but seldom doubt our own thinking. Our beliefs can make us blind. Through selective perception, we see only evidence that confirms our beliefs.

Society wants us to display conviction, but intelligence is sharpened by self-doubt. To see how often we don’t practice the things we preach requires the courage and intelligence to go beyond our carefully crafted self-image.

We know people who lecture others about exalted values like love, treating others with dignity and peaceful conflict resolution, while their lives are a graveyard of the very values they espouse.

An important safeguard against stupidity is to recognize that reality is complex and multi-layered.

As the historian Howard Zinn reminds us, a simple question about “what is the history of the United States?” has a very complex answer that depends on who you ask. Native Americans, African Americans and Europeans settlers each have a very different story to tell about U.S. history.

We are often plagued by unconscious emotional patterns that sabotage intelligence. If we want to always please our boss as a substitute for the lack of parental approval in childhood, we may act stupidly.

Or, lacking self-confidence, we may succumb to peer pressure. Fear of failure may stop us from courageously exploring innovative solutions. Being intolerant of uncertainty and ambiguity, we may settle on superficial solutions that become tomorrow’s problems rather than challenge ourselves to think deeply about root causes.

Real intelligence dissolves such invisible blockages.

Readers are invited to submit Opinion page essays on topics of regional or general interest. Send your 500-word essay for consideration to Ann Norman at anorman@cleveland.com. Essays must include a brief bio and headshot of the writer. Essays rebutting today’s topics are also welcome.

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