Should you hire a brilliant man or a mediocre guy instead?

Although the choice seems obvious at first, there is more to the subject then meets the eye. In an article published in February 1924 issue of The American Magazine the author tells his experience about hiring brilliant men. It is a very enjoyable read and I warmly suggest it.

What is wrong with brilliant man

“Brilliant” men often have very strong emotionally driven periods during which they either become over-creative or overly-depressed. This leads to a habit not to finish jobs they start as their creative impulse moves them to another, more interesting project or idea. Simply they have seen the project being born in their minds, all ideas and aspects of it carefully analyzed and an outcome already predicted. But when it comes to actually doing it, brilliant men are often bored and not interested. They are in constant hunger for intellectual challenges and are indeed lazy for practical purposes. That is bad for employers as they often have to pay too much for their services (brilliant men tend to have a high opinion of themselves).

Having a brilliant man in a team does not have to have negative consequences. Ideas they give can often drive the business into great new ventures. If you are to hire a brilliant person, make sure you have a team of people able to cope with extreme amount of fresh ideas. Interestingly only a “mediocre” guy can do this well. This makes mediocre guy, well… brilliant.