Brilliant Jerks

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Joe’s superpower is his ability to translate his deep knowledge of customer operations into requirements that engineers use to create software solutions. Joe is a hit-creator whose products are largely responsible for his business unit’s rise to market leadership. Unfortunately, in the words of many of his team members, “Joe is a jerk and almost impossible to work with.” Even if by some error, some jerk-minded guy sneaks into an organisation, a performance management system that focuses more on team goals, team learning and shared vision and purpose will ensure that the jerk-minded recruits find no fodder to feed their appetites and that no jerks are created and nurtured internally. There are two sets of rules in our organization — one for the so-called superstars and one for everyone else. To help us attract and retain stunning colleagues, we pay employees at the top of their personal market. This is a good-faith estimate of the highest compensation each employee could make at a similar role in local peer companies, combined with what we would pay to replace them if needed. Some employees’ estimated personal market will rise rapidly, either due to their performance or a shortage of talent in that area. For others, it may be flat year-to-year due to market conditions, even if they do great work.

What is stopping the brilliant jerk from seeing that their toxic behavior is counterproductive? It’s their underlying fear, which triggers them into the fight mode when faced with a threat. It’s a threat to their insatiable need for status and recognition. The coach’s role is to provide insights that widen the brilliant jerk’s array of behavioral responses to any perceived threat. Step 3: Empathizing About Boss Awareness Richard Fairbanks is absolutely correct in his analysis of the time spent managing the recruits, but are they mistakes or opportunities? The time and cost involved in recruiting people for growth/replacement can be phenomenal and to suddenly decide that one individual is disruptive and to cut him/her loose is a poor management decision. Set over a decade, audiences follow the creation of a multi-billion-dollar app that allows people to call taxis on their phone. The play aims to show how technology takes over our lives and how Silicon Valley shapes the world. I have once had to manage a jerk during my career in leadership. Quite an excellent performer, meeting and exceeding targets at all times. But he would have issues with one colleague today, and another tomorrow. Again, this jerk was very erratic and gives in to emotions at every slightest provocation.The problem is the brilliant jerk might see what the boss wants but often does not see how it should be done for the betterment of the overall institution, for the development of employees and for the boss’ professional goals. Brilliant jerks are focused on themselves and their outcomes, and others are an instrument to getting what they want. Drive brilliancy in gaining business objectives with positive direction without killing individuals instinct to do and deliver best. The brilliant jerk is a common "feature" of the particular form of corporate organization that has evolved in the same environment where we now have narrow focus on quarterly profits, media-focused charismatic leaders and extremely skewed pay structures.

The role of the coach in transforming the brilliant jerk is to identify the difficult leader’s desired outcome, and then show them that the missing piece to their goals is related to their interpersonal shortcomings. When the term "Brilliant Jerk" becomes the metaphor for organizational productivity (therein lies the problem). To associate monetary bottom lines with brilliance, and provide room for its continuing growth - says a lot about the intrinsic culture of the/a company. Brilliant jerks understand that to obtain the good graces of their bosses, they need to have a deeper understanding of how they function. The by-product of this process starts to develop the brilliant jerk’s understanding of and empathy for others. However, just because brilliant jerks begin to understand their bosses better does not mean they now can adapt their leadership appropriately to the many different stakeholders. For that, the brilliant jerk needs to evolve to the next level of complexity, which brings us to the next step. Step 4: Expanding Their Stakeholder Awareness Art Petty is an executive and emerging-leader coach and a popular leadership and management author, speaker and workshop presenter. His experience guiding multiple software firms to positions of market leadership comes through in his books, articles, and live and online programs. Visit Petty’s Management Excellence blog and Leadership Caffeine articles. Pliner advises if you are going to approach a higher-up about the impact of a toxic co-worker, it helps to frame your concerns as a request for help, such as describing the impact of the behavior on your own work, rather than as a complaint about another person.If you feel you are forced into this situation, it’s time to talk with your boss. Their response will speak volumes about the culture of your organization. If your concerns fall on deaf ears and the behaviors are excused in the pursuit of performance, you’ve either got a bad manager or you’re in a toxic culture. Either way, you might want to consider a move to a new role or firm.