Competent Elites
28th November 2008
One of the major surprises I received when I moved out of childhood into the real world, was the degree to which the world is stratified by genuine competence.
But entering the real world, I found out that the average mortal really can’t be an executive. Even the average manager can’t function without a higher-level manager above them. What is it that makes an executive? I don’t know, because I’m not a professional in this area. If I had to take a guess, I would call it “functioning without recourse” – living without any level above you to take over if you falter, or even to tell you if you’re getting it wrong. To just get it done, even if the problem requires you to do something unusual, without anyone being there to look over your work and pencil in a few corrections.