Brilliant Jerks

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These jerks appear outrageous because of their awkward behaviour. Most times, we as managers use our autocratic leadership approach to deal with them in the name of bringing about a change in behaviour. My late father once told me that behaviour cannot be changed but can be modified. If we attempt this simple and common suggestion of modifying behaviour rather than attempting to change them, then the untapped potentials in these jerks can be tapped to fullest utilised before we hurriedly exit them. The annoying employee who makes his numbers while alienating those around him will gain needed attention in the coming months with at least one book about to be published on the subject. This is an age-old problem that most managers handle badly.

Based on my experience advising Fortune 500 companies on their people strategy, there are four key steps to consider when dealing with this issue. 1. Detect with data This play examines the tech industry and a particular ubiquitous app from all angles. It is an interesting and debatable choice to let the app founder (Shubham Saraf) have the last word on stage and the many ethical qualms thrown up by this keenly observed piece leaves plenty of fodder for a post-show debrief. The basic story? It centres around the toxic boss Tyler, the quiet coder Sean, and the scrappy cab driver Mia (all three tiers of income you’ll find in the world of tech) as we hop around the globe watching the capricious whims of greed & fate play out. And somehow, throughout the entire thing, the characters manage to never once mention the name of the company that they all work for. If there isn’t clear and tangible evidence of performance improvement over a predetermined period, HR leaders must move swiftly to performance management and potentially contract termination. This is always a difficult decision to make, but they must remain strong and not be seduced by destructive brilliance. Assumptions are often made about people’s capacity to be self-aware and that as a result they understand what is acceptable and what’s not. Similarly, that everyone is continually working hard to regulate the emotions that they feel so they don’t become the kind of person that people avoid.Starting in childhood, they "unconsciously" develop a pattern of behaviors that "work" for them - that support natural biases in their personality. It becomes habitual very fast. I’m not sure in hindsight whether offering team coaching would have changed the outcome, but it should have been one of the areas of investment.

Dream team members take informed risks, which require courage and encouragement from leaders and peers. We have many successes and failures, which is how we learn and why everyone is evaluated on their whole record (versus simply mistakes or bets that didn’t pay off).

A coach can enhance their self-awareness to have more empathy and understanding of themselves. How do they make decisions, what are their triggers, what are their limiting mindsets, and what seeds are these leaders sowing that will lead to their future derailment? If you are the manager of a brilliant jerk, then you should be looking at yourself and asking whether you’ve done enough to set expectation around behaviour and work quality. In my experience, not setting expectation is one of the most prevalent root causes of poor behaviour. Simply stated, if companies look at the skills, type, and specific qualifications required for the job; and associate their priorities with the organizational structure they wish to - implement, and maintain: the brilliant jerk will not have leverage to thrive, and/or have to be punished for secondary offenses overtime. The thought process would be that they would already know the existing parameters of the organization: as provided and reviewed during the pre-hiring/onboarding phases.

All performers do a good job of crafting three central figures that fit within their own context, and populate each other’s storylines with supporting characters that have their own distinctive personalities. Ultimately, though, the whole work suffers by stuffing three stories into the running time that would be better devoted to one. One of the toughest aspects of dealing with brilliant jerks is actually spotting them in the first place. These individuals are almost always adept at hiding in plain sight and carefully managing their reputation with their superiors. This allows them to slip under the radar.On our dream team, there are no brilliant jerks as they are detrimental to great teamwork. We insist on decent human interactions, no matter how brilliant someone may be. When highly capable people work together well, they inspire each other to be more creative, more productive and ultimately more successful as a team than they could be individually. I’ve seen it time and time again. Whenever a someone with a bad attitude leaves a company, it lifts a burden and improves the performance of the whole company – especially those working for the Jerk. With echoes of The Social Network, Joseph Charlton’s Brilliant Jerks is fresh, cool and utterly engrossing. Brilliant jerks make a direct contribution to the immediate numbers and stretch others to do more while their negative impact is not understood nor objectively debated for they are often the darlings of the management. In my opinion, it boils down to the culture and leadership on how this issue is handled. Calculations and research into are obviously done alone but big projects much be broken into smaller tasks. Ther little point in having three people get in each others way.

relationship is on both parties. What is communicated to the stakeholders is that the brilliant jerk is undergoing a leadership development program.Who would want to work for someone like that? Many, of course, do work for someone like that. And besides changing jobs when you’ve had enough, your best hope is that the brilliant jerk changes. Thrilling, scandalous and exposing… with echoes of The Social Network , Joseph Charlton’s Brilliant Jerks is fresh, cool and utterly engrossing.” West End Best Friend