This is a blog post aimed at people who want to do important work or make meaningful contributions to work, but feel they aren’t that smart and don’t have any talent. Thanks for reading Adaobi’s Newsletter!
I'd like to share this article with people, but feel inhibited from doing so since it would imply I thought negatively about their abilities! I imagine that this factor limits the reach of this article.
It’s quite easy to share without offending — simply ask them if they think the points in this article are actually true. For example — “Could someone who isn’t smart be successful if they followed these points?” Or “if someone actually did all these things wouldn’t they be considered smart?”
Ask a question to spark a conversation. Indirect advice is usually easier to digest.
I think Sam Altman describes Greg as a non-technical cofounder [1], and I think this post is saying: you can be a great non-technical cofounder without any other particular skills or talent (Greg is obviously also a good engineer, and if you are too so much the better! But even if you're not you can easily be really valuable)
Thank you for sharing and writing this post. I really like the ideas and find them very insightful / intuitive. Your writing reminded me of a post by Cate Hall on how to be develop agency: https://usefulfictions.substack.com/p/how-to-be-more-agentic
Useful to me, as I had lots of brains and talent in the past, but have gradually let them all go to waste. "What next?" I asked. Well, all of this. Thanks for putting it all in one place.
Pragmatic suggestions. I absolutely agree that smart people often are more risk averse. I would add to this is for less smart people with lower skills develop wisdom over technical knowhow. My long career in the corporate world has confirmed that wisdom and emotional intelligence play a bigger role in employee value than does just high technical skills. For example, relationship skills are super important and you don't need a high IQ to develop them. In fact, I find the high IQ people often lacking in relationship skills.
I never thought of a willingness to do work that others avoid as a skill. Or a sense of urgency, a willingness to confront and problem solve immediately, et cetera. Thanks for this. Im going to rewrite my resume.
'Ask your naive questions. If you aren’t that smart or talented, you will find that you will have a lot of “noob” questions, that’s okay. In fact, it is kind of a superpower. Ask them!'
I have been quite annoying with asking people, that I thought may know better than me in the past. Sometimes I had interesting questions, but sometimes I just had idiosyncratic confusions. And either are hard to answer. However, thankfully there is ChatGPT for that now.
ChatGPT is a nigh universal expert that cannot run away from you, has infinite patience and has mental flexibility enough to check whether your idiosyncratic understanding actually matches what's known.
A lot of questions are along the lines of "Why is X not Y.", "How is X and Y not contradictory." or "Why can't we just do Z.". Ask ChatGPT first and learn to make it clarify, rephrase, restate and give quantitative context. It will usually reveal the flaws in your understanding and set you straight. Sometimes it is actually a gap in how a topic is modelled or a sensible implication that nobody has yet stated. Then you can lay out your current understanding of a topic to an expert (proving that you have put some thought into it and are reasonably well-informed) and potentially ask a much better question to a real human expert.
I can imagine a 'softer landing' is making it clear it has personally help you. If someone feels you think negatively about their abilities by sharing, that's a very good sign they *really* need it, so I'd share anyways. Think of an injection (which might be quite painful), but the medicine is necessary.
This is article is extremely condescending towards people who may not have talent or intelligence. I used to be called smart in class but as things got harder I felt more and more stupid especially when applying to College as I compared myself to others. From that point on, I used to view myself as the stupid one who would avoid learning new skills simply because I fear being a fool. I would always make this excuse that I don’t have natural talent. This stuff is bullshit and it’s fucked my mindset. So while this article is useful, I find the tone to be very offensive as anyone can be good at anything they set their mind too even the technical skills. So you’re view is very narrow and unhelpful for those trying to shift their mindset in order to achieve greatness.
I'd like to share this article with people, but feel inhibited from doing so since it would imply I thought negatively about their abilities! I imagine that this factor limits the reach of this article.
It’s quite easy to share without offending — simply ask them if they think the points in this article are actually true. For example — “Could someone who isn’t smart be successful if they followed these points?” Or “if someone actually did all these things wouldn’t they be considered smart?”
Ask a question to spark a conversation. Indirect advice is usually easier to digest.
on the contrary, i deliberately shared this with some of my brighter colleagues just to troll them.
just do it. simple. I dont know why I make everything complicated. heheheh
I think Sam Altman describes Greg as a non-technical cofounder [1], and I think this post is saying: you can be a great non-technical cofounder without any other particular skills or talent (Greg is obviously also a good engineer, and if you are too so much the better! But even if you're not you can easily be really valuable)
[1] https://blog.samaltman.com/greg
This was just excellent - thank you for writing so clearly and pragmatically!
Hi Adaobi,
Thank you for sharing and writing this post. I really like the ideas and find them very insightful / intuitive. Your writing reminded me of a post by Cate Hall on how to be develop agency: https://usefulfictions.substack.com/p/how-to-be-more-agentic
Hope you are well!
Best,
Samuel
what an amazing read. great work! You're really talented! :)
This is wonderful and thoughtful advice that applies to all of us. Thank you for sharing.
Useful to me, as I had lots of brains and talent in the past, but have gradually let them all go to waste. "What next?" I asked. Well, all of this. Thanks for putting it all in one place.
Pragmatic suggestions. I absolutely agree that smart people often are more risk averse. I would add to this is for less smart people with lower skills develop wisdom over technical knowhow. My long career in the corporate world has confirmed that wisdom and emotional intelligence play a bigger role in employee value than does just high technical skills. For example, relationship skills are super important and you don't need a high IQ to develop them. In fact, I find the high IQ people often lacking in relationship skills.
I never thought of a willingness to do work that others avoid as a skill. Or a sense of urgency, a willingness to confront and problem solve immediately, et cetera. Thanks for this. Im going to rewrite my resume.
Sit in the way and say "No"
Love this!
'Ask your naive questions. If you aren’t that smart or talented, you will find that you will have a lot of “noob” questions, that’s okay. In fact, it is kind of a superpower. Ask them!'
I have been quite annoying with asking people, that I thought may know better than me in the past. Sometimes I had interesting questions, but sometimes I just had idiosyncratic confusions. And either are hard to answer. However, thankfully there is ChatGPT for that now.
ChatGPT is a nigh universal expert that cannot run away from you, has infinite patience and has mental flexibility enough to check whether your idiosyncratic understanding actually matches what's known.
A lot of questions are along the lines of "Why is X not Y.", "How is X and Y not contradictory." or "Why can't we just do Z.". Ask ChatGPT first and learn to make it clarify, rephrase, restate and give quantitative context. It will usually reveal the flaws in your understanding and set you straight. Sometimes it is actually a gap in how a topic is modelled or a sensible implication that nobody has yet stated. Then you can lay out your current understanding of a topic to an expert (proving that you have put some thought into it and are reasonably well-informed) and potentially ask a much better question to a real human expert.
I can imagine a 'softer landing' is making it clear it has personally help you. If someone feels you think negatively about their abilities by sharing, that's a very good sign they *really* need it, so I'd share anyways. Think of an injection (which might be quite painful), but the medicine is necessary.
Just a thought!
👌🏾👌🏾
This is article is extremely condescending towards people who may not have talent or intelligence. I used to be called smart in class but as things got harder I felt more and more stupid especially when applying to College as I compared myself to others. From that point on, I used to view myself as the stupid one who would avoid learning new skills simply because I fear being a fool. I would always make this excuse that I don’t have natural talent. This stuff is bullshit and it’s fucked my mindset. So while this article is useful, I find the tone to be very offensive as anyone can be good at anything they set their mind too even the technical skills. So you’re view is very narrow and unhelpful for those trying to shift their mindset in order to achieve greatness.
another possible title:
how to become a smart and talented person
I disagree with your assessment of not being that talented, when it comes to coding. Anyone that can master coding is talented!