Operating in an ecosystem that’s stupid leads smart people down the path of doing stupid work. In what follows, I want to explore how otherwise-intelligent individuals are compelled to engage in work that does not fully utilize their capabilities or align with their own moral compass, simply by virtue of the prevailing norms, values, or intellectual rigor of the environment in which they operate. This phenomenon transcends specific types of organizations, including businesses, political parties, and other groups, demonstrating a universal truth about human social and professional interactions — you’ve “got to go soft in the head and weak in the knees to go places,” as my father was so very fond of repeating.