11 Things People With High IQs Pretend Not To Notice At Work
Highly intelligent people overlook workplace flaws to stay focused and avoid any drama.
Jorge Elizaquibel | Shutterstock What keeps a lot of us up at night is remembering the embarrassing things we did at work, hoping that nobody noticed it. But chances are, an observant and intelligent colleague did see that moment and didn't say anything to avoid getting the office gossiping about you. Avoiding drama is just one of the many things people with high IQs pretend not to notice at work, choosing instead to use their intellectual abilities for good.
The workplace can be feel like high school, where hierarchies exist and people who are perceived as smart tend to keep to themselves. Because intelligent people like this have empathy and don't feel the need to involve themselves in drama, they avoid putting themselves in the middle of office politics altogether.
Here are 11 things people with high IQs pretend not to notice at work
1. Office politics and power plays
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High IQ individuals have high emotional intelligence which means they are better equipped to manage the stress and interpersonal challenges associated with office politics. Openly challenging office power can backfire on you and damage your reputation at work, which is why these people pretend not to notice the underhandedness that comes from others at their job.
Right now, they see you as the target, but they know that eventually it will be them that gets marked by middle management. It's a strategic move to stay silent as your co-workers argue with one another over something so minimal.
When it comes time to get people on their side, they won't have to worry about it being awkward, because they rarely put a foot wrong. Getting people to agree with their ideas is not an easy task, but with the proper phrasing, they can convince anyone to listen to them.
2. Incompetence in high places
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Incompetence in high places at work can be hard to ignore, especially for employees with high IQs, because it's so limiting. The entire team is out of sync because their leaders can't seem to get on the same page. It can also hinder their own individual performances when their boss messes up and increases their workload as a result.
Not all bosses are competent, and many lack basic communication skills that can be handy in avoiding workplace conflicts. However, smart people know that openly challenging authority rarely leads to constructive change in the workplace.
3. Backhanded compliments or subtle insults
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One of the more obvious things people with high IQs pretend not to notice at work is when a colleague insults them subtly or uses a backhanded compliment. But giving someone a genuine compliment without being weird is easy if you have a little self-awareness.
During these situations, highly intelligent people read between the lines of what the other person is saying and have already accessed what or what not to say. Being self-aware keeps them safe from accidentally reacting.
As one study published in Harvard Business School Working Paper found, backhanded compliments can say a lot about how you treat people, and make the giver appear less sincere and competent. Remarks like these can cause recipients to lose confidence and motivation, even when it was intended to praise them. When someone does make this mistake, an intelligent worker will pretend like they didn't hear anything.
4. Micromanagement
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People with high IQs can spot a boss who is micromanaging them from a mile away. It starts with never delegating them tasks to hovering over them. Over time, this intense surveillance can hurt their ability to do their job. However, rather than react impulsively, they observe quietly and assess the situation with caution.
Some even go as far as to ignore the micromanager because any pushback can lead to unnecessary conflict. They maintain their professionalism and adapt a new approach to work with these constraints. This strategy lets them stay productive and maintain good work relationships for the future.
5. Credit theft
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Colleagues stealing your ideas and passing it off as their own is a common occurrence in the workplace. It's a form of quiet bullying that is present when one individual has it out for you and uses others to join in. Even if you try to tell other people that it was your idea first, they will think you are crazy because this person already made up a narrative about you.
But because they've dealt with situations like this before, it's one of the things people with high IQs pretend not to notice at work. They come well prepared and document every idea they have just in case. Sometimes, it's safer to just sit back and pretend like they didn't steal your ideas, because karma will do the work for you.
6. Favoritism
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Favoritism is rampant in the workplace, and it often shows up in the form of inside jokes. In fact, around nine in 10 employees have witnessed favoritism while on the job, with 55% of the favored workers having personal ties to a manager.
Managers who favor one employee over another do themselves no favors because it can be hard to lead a group when you've isolated all but one of them. This can cause some of their best employees to quit if the focus isn't put back on the team rather than that one person.
There may be a history between the two that other employees don't see, but it's one of the things people with high IQs pretend not to notice at work despite understanding what is going on. Highly intelligent people keep their heads down instead and don't get involved.
7. Emotional outbursts
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People with high IQs have a keen sense of their surroundings, including the emotional dynamics of the workplace. They can sense when someone is agitated with someone else, and should the two cross paths they can expect a big blow up. When employees have emotional outbursts against their bosses, smart employees remain silent and continue their work rather than listening in on the disagreement.
High performers know that being emotionally attached is just going to make their bosses think they are more emotionally invested in the job than they actually are. This is why they detach themselves from it all by clocking in, getting the job down, and then heading home. Unless human resources calls you in as a witness, there's no reason to drag the situation out further.
8. Slackers and bare minimum workers
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High IQ workers have a sharp eye for patterns and behavior. Being highly observant workers means they see everything everyone else is doing, including their work ethic. Just one slacker or toxic colleague can drag down a team's performance.
Unfortunately, according to a study from Taskworld, nearly 50% of people feel their performance drops when co-workers miss deadlines. This irritates them, though they will never state it to their colleagues because they know it would get back to the person they have issues with.
Word travels fast at work and gossip runs rampant, so one negative comment can make your co-worker an enemy for life. Picking up the slack for a lazy employee can cause resentment, too.
9. Flattery as strategy
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The saying that flattery will get you nowhere is actually true in the workplace. People with high intelligence know when someone is trying to butter them up for a favor or promotion. It's brazen to do it so publicly, because now it was witnessed by the whole department you work in.
Even if it's the boss doing it, many workers will react negatively to it. In fact, research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that leaders who grant favors to people by using flattery are perceived to be more naive, less competent, and viewed as less fair by the organization.
Rather than calling this type of behavior out, highly intelligent people wait until this flattery eventually backfires. Because people who try these types of shortcuts get their karma in the end.
10. Unspoken hierarchies
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The workplace can feel like high school where everyone is part of their own little cliques. Each group has their own way of thinking and will behave differently towards you depending on what group you represent. If you are more of the lovable, talkative type, chances are you will be popular, whereas intelligent people tend to be quieter.
But even if there are unspoken hierarchies, it's one of the things people with high IQs pretend not to notice at work. They stay in the background, doing just enough work to go home for the day and stay off of their manager's radar. They pretend to not see this hierarchy, even when popular colleagues use workplace bullying to get what they want. In their world, it's a strategy known as survival of the fittest and they are simply trying to do a job and go home.
11. When they're being tested
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During job performance reviews, workers who are highly intelligent pretend not to dwell on all the times their boss secretly tested them to make sure they knew what they were doing. It's not fun to be critiqued and examined by higher ups with the excuse that it will improve their performance.
Instead of reacting defensively, these intelligent individuals play it cool and understand that in those moments the reaction to the task was more important than the task itself. Some bosses go above and beyond in their testing of potential candidates, and what many would call excessive, they would call playing it safe.
High IQ individuals mask their awareness in these events to preserve their spot. They observe, adapt, and respond with strategic restraint, which saves their job in the end.
Sylvia Ojeda is an author with a decade of experience writing novels and screenplays. She covers self-help, relationships, culture, and human interest topics.
