# Should your highest-ranking elected leader be "brilliant?" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 25, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-your-highest-ranking-elected-leader-be-brilliant/619918 "2012-04-25T16:52:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-your-highest-ranking-elected-leader-be-brilliant/619918/41 "2012-04-26T20:27:57Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > But where’s the proof that Adlai Stevenson was brilliant or that Eisenhower was stupid? You wanna see their transcripts? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-your-highest-ranking-elected-leader-be-brilliant/619918/42 "2012-04-27T00:43:32Z")
I definitely want my highest-ranked elected official to be a brilliant\* leader\* AND manager. I also want her or him to be at least above average in analytical _and_ emotional intelligence _and_ ability to learn and comprehend quickly and make considered and timely decisions; as well as that s/he be well educated and a well-rounded, cultured individual. If someone manages to be brilliant at all or most of those fields, then I definitely want her/him in some sort of top job. Notice that the part about above average emotional intelligence and being a well-rounded individual means this brilliant person would NOT be a person to be fazed by their own brilliance or blind to their own insufficiencies. IMO a person with those qualities IS also “someone who can recognize good ideas and carry them out, but can also reject wrongheaded ones, no matter how clever”. Someone who is “so carried away with his brilliant and ingenuous ideas that he goes for them even when impractical or otherwise wrongheaded” is not my definition of brilliant. It’s someone who THINKS he’s brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-your-highest-ranking-elected-leader-be-brilliant/619918/43 "2012-04-27T01:55:09Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > That’s certainly the liberal conventional wisdom. > > But where’s the proof that Adlai Stevenson was brilliant or that Eisenhower was stupid? I believe that’s more than just “liberal” conventional wisdom. I believe it’s conventional wisdom, period. And interpreting “By contrast, Eisenhower wasn’t known for his intellectual skills, but he had just finished commanding the army that liberated Europe” to mean I said “Eisenhower was stupid” is reading in far more than I said. ---
**Author:** ![Yumblie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/76d3ee/32.png) [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-your-highest-ranking-elected-leader-be-brilliant/619918/44 "2012-04-27T03:30:56Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > As noted in my first post to this thread, all else is not necessarily equal. There are some negative attributes associated with brilliance, IME. Like what? Arrogance? Social awkwardness? Closed-mindedness? Those can sometimes be associated with brilliance but aren’t a necessity. I’ve known people who are brilliant and also extremely humble and easy-going. If a president is someone like that, would you still think brilliance is a negative? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-your-highest-ranking-elected-leader-be-brilliant/619918/45 "2012-04-27T03:35:18Z")
I said No because “brilliant” was in quotes, and the context of the post in the OP indicated it was being stated with sarcasm. Also, brilliance is not a requirement. Competent and honest (to the degree that any politican could be honest) would be much more important. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-your-highest-ranking-elected-leader-be-brilliant/619918/46 "2012-04-28T13:08:51Z")
Electing a leader, brilliant or otherwise, presupposes that the electorate are sheep. The sooner we dispense with the concept of political leadership the better. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-your-highest-ranking-elected-leader-be-brilliant/619918/47 "2012-04-29T12:30:34Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I believe that’s more than just “liberal” conventional wisdom. I believe it’s conventional wisdom, period. > > And interpreting “By contrast, Eisenhower wasn’t known for his intellectual skills, but he had just finished commanding the army that liberated Europe” to mean I said “Eisenhower was stupid” is reading in far more than I said. Okay, it’s the conventional wisdom- but where’s the proof that the conventional wisdom is true? What makes anyone think Adlai Stevenson was a genuine intellectual? He did go to Harvard Law School, true… but he flunked out. Moreover, Stevenson came from a very rich and prominent family. Many SDMB regulars are quick to dismiss George W. Bush’s degrees from Harvard and Yale (“His family got him in- DUH!”). Mightn’t it be fair to infer that Stevenson’s rich family got HIM into schools where he was over his head? This is anecdotal, not hard eveidence, but many sources say there were no books except the Social Register in Stevenson’s home, when he died. Maybe Stevenson was truly a brain… but maybe not. Woody Allen once said that people overestimate his (Woody’s) intelligence because he wears glasses. I get the sense that Stevenson’s intelligence was overrated because he was a patrician who struck the right sophisticated liberal poses. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-your-highest-ranking-elected-leader-be-brilliant/619918.md?page=2)