MODULE 8 - HALF BAKED NITWIT IN LEADERSHIP ROLES

A half baked, half-knowledgeable, not-so-wise employee is far more harmful to a company than a completely incompetent person, says Ajay Agarwal in this blog.

Harmful.

• A completely incompetent person is often easy to identify and remove or sideline.

• A half-baked person, on the other hand, often believes they are competent and may be placed in roles where they make critical errors.

• Their overconfidence in limited knowledge leads to wrong decisions, misinformation, and disruption.

Political.

• Half-baked people often feel insecure about their gaps in knowledge.

• To compensate, they play politics, manipulate situations, take undue credit, and shift blame.

• They often act like “know-it-alls” and resist learning from others.

• Completely incompetent people rarely engage in high-level politics because they lack the skill to do so effectively.

Damage.

• A completely incompetent person may slow things down but can be kept away from decision-making.

• A half-competent person is dangerous because they will actively mislead others, make wrong strategic choices, and convince others to follow their poor decisions.

• They can create avoidable conflicts, resist guidance, and damage team morale.

Gambler.

• Half-baked people take impulsive risks, believing they understand the situation.

• Their miscalculated decisions can have major financial, operational, or legal repercussions.

• Fully incompetent people tend to avoid risk because they lack confidence.

Learnability

• A fully incompetent person is more likely to seek help and acknowledge their lack of expertise.

• A half-baked person will rarely seek guidance, fearing it exposes their limitations.

Net-Net: Hire Competent Staff or Trainable Staff, Not Half-Baked People

• Hiring fully competent employees is ideal.

• Hiring trainable, eager-to-learn employees is also a good strategy.

• Avoid hiring people who “think” they know it all but actually lack depth. They won’t learn, won’t seek guidance, and will make avoidable mistakes.

Key Lesson:

A fully incompetent person is a manageable problem. A half-baked person is an unpredictable disaster.