{"id":155,"date":"2010-02-04T07:54:58","date_gmt":"2010-02-04T12:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.encoretechresources.com\/insights\/?p=155"},"modified":"2010-02-28T11:33:04","modified_gmt":"2010-02-28T16:33:04","slug":"evolutionary-superiority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.encoretechresources.com\/insights\/2010\/02\/04\/evolutionary-superiority\/","title":{"rendered":"Evolutionary Superiority"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Evolutionary Superiority, now that\u2019s a powerful phrase\u2026 wouldn\u2019t it make you feel puffed up to be able to apply that description to yourself?  My friend, colleague, and fellow <em>Insights<\/em> blogger, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.resourcerelations.net\">Doug Bedell<\/a>, has found some primate research from Harvard University that suggests that if you have one of the more annoying human traits\u2014grumpiness\u2014then you may qualify as evolutionarily superior.<\/p>\n<p>The details are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/science\/science-news\/7103354\/Grumpiness-is-a-sign-of-advanced-civilisation.html\">here<\/a>, but basically the idea is that ape species that can set aside their natural tendency for playfulness now and again and get pissed off about something (chimpanzees) are more civilized and accomplished than their always playful peers (bonobos).  I have to say I\u2019m skeptical about applying this research to human evolution, but I\u2019ve seen first hand how this research applies to life in the business world.<\/p>\n<p>In large, hierarchical, and highly structured organizations I\u2019ve worked with (think government agencies), too many workers go along to get along, and consequently things (processes, systems, rules, databases, paperwork, whatever) evolve slowly, if at all.  It takes the rare grumpy man or woman (read that as annoyed, impatient, and \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymotion.com\/video\/x5ohp8_network-howard-beale-mad-as-hell_shortfilms\">I\u2019m mad as hell and I\u2019m not going to take this anymore<\/a>\u201d*) to force change and make the organization evolve in some small way.  I contrast that with some of the more <a href=\"http:\/\/www.encoretechresources.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/Beale.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-171\" title=\"Beale\" src=\"http:\/\/www.encoretechresources.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/Beale.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"115\" height=\"78\" \/><\/a>sharp, nimble, and evolve-or-die companies I\u2019ve written for, which seem to be full of impatient and grumpy (but not uncivilized) people who are frequently unsatisfied and want things changed&#8230; now!.<\/p>\n<p>The next time a colleague annoys you with a stubborn, grumpy, and get-with-the-program attitude, give him or her a hug (to hell with political correctness and harassment policies).  They may be saving your career. <em>\u2013 Dennis Owen<\/em><\/p>\n<p>* Thanks to dailymotion.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Evolutionary Superiority, now that\u2019s a powerful phrase\u2026 wouldn\u2019t it make you feel puffed up to be able to apply that description to yourself? My friend, colleague, and fellow Insights blogger, Doug Bedell, has found some primate research from Harvard University that suggests that if you have one of the more annoying human traits\u2014grumpiness\u2014then you may [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.encoretechresources.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.encoretechresources.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.encoretechresources.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.encoretechresources.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.encoretechresources.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"http:\/\/www.encoretechresources.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":360,"href":"http:\/\/www.encoretechresources.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155\/revisions\/360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.encoretechresources.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.encoretechresources.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.encoretechresources.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}