One of the stupidest things I’ve repeatedly seen smart people do – I call this Advanced Stupid – is that they get so fixated on trying to optimize something complicated, that they forget to optimize for survival, and then they get knocked out of the game. Like having a startup trying to do something complicatedly clever, and then running out of

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Smart people are uniquely vulnerable to mistaking complexity for insight.

An executive writes a ten-page memo that could be one. An engineer builds an intricate system when a simple one would perform better at half the cost. The consultant mesmerizes clients with frameworks that conceal rather than reveal. We attach prestige to what mystifies us.... See more

And yet stupidity, sadly, isn’t always so straightforward. It’s a concept that demands nuance. In order to be smart, we need to be aware of our own stupidness—to be reminded that we have much to learn. At the same time, we don’t want to feel so stupid that we give up, or grow cynical, or become disillusioned about what counts as “smart.” Similarly,... See more