Ever worked under the authority or managerial oversight of someone you thought wasn't as intelligent as you? If so, you may take it from a column in the Sydney Morning Herald that you were wrong. Not only that - there is research from the University of New South Wales to support the Sydney Morning Herald claim:
Office managers think they're smarter than the rest of the staff and now there is medical evidence to back it up.
Except that the alleged evidence doesn't back it up. It couldn't, of course, unless it showed that all office managers were smarter than everyone they manage - which, you've got to admit, is a tall order. In fact what the SMH column goes on to report is that, according to this research, managerial experience tends to promote problem-solving and other mental skills, strengthen memory and so forth. And this doesn't rule out the possibility that a given manager or subset of managers might start off so much less smart than some of the staff they manage that even their managerial experience won't succeed in overcoming the difference. Nor does it rule out the possibility that the employees who are being managed could be honing their mental skills in other areas of activity than management and thereby keeping up with their managers. It's a bum report.