It is much, much easier to pick out a way in which a system is sub-optimal, than it is to implement or run that system at anything like its current level of optimization.
I actually… disagree, and I think it’s important rather than pedantic. That quote is something I’ve heard a bunch of times across domains (although if that concept wasn’t something salient in your mind it’s certainly important).
The novel insight here (for me) seemed to be “when it’s important to hire someone with rare skills, you won’t be selecting for other basic competencies, and this can produce hires that are the right hires but which seem uniquely terrible from the outside.”
Strongly agree with Raymond. The quote ESRogs points to is super important if you didn’t already know that, or needed reminding, but it’s not remotely original and I’ve seen similar statements in many places across domains.
I think the post could also be interpreted as saying, “when you select for rare levels of super-competence in one trait, you are selecting against competence in most other traits” or at least, “when you select for strong charisma and leadership ability, you are selecting for below average management ability.” It’s a little ambiguous about how far this is likely to generalize or just how strongly specific skills are expected to anti-correlate.
Key quote!
I actually… disagree, and I think it’s important rather than pedantic. That quote is something I’ve heard a bunch of times across domains (although if that concept wasn’t something salient in your mind it’s certainly important).
The novel insight here (for me) seemed to be “when it’s important to hire someone with rare skills, you won’t be selecting for other basic competencies, and this can produce hires that are the right hires but which seem uniquely terrible from the outside.”
Strongly agree with Raymond. The quote ESRogs points to is super important if you didn’t already know that, or needed reminding, but it’s not remotely original and I’ve seen similar statements in many places across domains.
I think the post could also be interpreted as saying, “when you select for rare levels of super-competence in one trait, you are selecting against competence in most other traits” or at least, “when you select for strong charisma and leadership ability, you are selecting for below average management ability.” It’s a little ambiguous about how far this is likely to generalize or just how strongly specific skills are expected to anti-correlate.