Speaking about giftedness, my processor might not be extraordinarily powerful but it’s extremely fast. I figure things out with great speed.
For instance, we have a new, extremely complicated bureaucratic-type platform. People are going nuts trying to get it to work. There are complex, multi-day training sessions to teach people to use it. The manual alone is 1,8 megabytes.
I figured out how this little bitch works in under 10 minutes. And much of that time was taken up by a colleague who dropped by to chat.
This is why it’s easier for me to be department chair than for other people. It takes me very little time to figure out the byzantine bureaucratic processes for everything and fire off the required paperwork in the required format in minutes.
Of course, psychological makeup is crucial, as always. I find ways to game the system to do as little work as possible while looking like the most hard-working bastard on campus. This is, of course, a cultural thing. I don’t believe in rules I haven’t freely chosen. My highest loyalty is to myself and my only trusted authority is, again, myself.

Leave a comment