When we think about people who are leaders, we often get a mental picture of someone who is older, smarter, and wiser than ourselves. Studies of leadership, though, have usually found that there is almost no relationship between skill as a leader and traditional measures of intelligence.

Some recent research by psychologist Red Fiedle and his colleagues suggests that both intelligence and experience may be important—but just now how important depends upon how stressful the work situation is and what kind of task is to be accomplished. The researchers obtained measures of intelligence, experience, performance, and stress.

Overall, these variables did not relate to one another. Men with high and low intelligence were equally likely to give good performance, as were men with more and less experience, or more and less stress with their bosses. When you look separately at those men who have high stress with their bosses, however, the picture changes.

In high stress situations, there was no connection between intelligence and performance, but there was between experience and performance. In other words, in difficult situations, it was helpful to “know the ropes”. In low stress situations, the findings were just the opposite. Experience was not related to good performance, but intelligence was. That is, when things are going well, intelligence is very useful in leadership.

A study of fire fighters’ performance under high and low stress conditions also found the experienced officers performed best under situations of stress. None of this is really very surprising. If you have ever had a supervisory job, you probably found that at least as much energy went into dealing with people as went into managing the job itself. Tests of intelligence—at least the ones we have now—do not predict success in dealing with people.

Why are so many people unhappy in their jobs? There are two primary reasons. First, some people are convinced that earning a living is wasting time that they could spend enjoying themselves or uncovering their true talents.

If this is the case with you, recall your last long vacation. Was it two weeks of complete enjoyment? More likely it was a week and a half of fun in the sun, with another half a week of “Boy, I can’t wait to get back to work.”If you didn’t feel such vacation blues, then imagine taking a leave of absence. You could use it to work on a novel, attend classes or just sit around watching TV. At the end of three months, in all likelihood, your self-respect would be at an all-time low. While all work and no play are not good, all play and no work are disastrous. We need to feel we are accomplishing something. We also need some form of order in our lives.

The second and perhaps more common reason for people not to like their work is that they feel trapped. Once you’ve been at a company for five years and get married, have a mortgage(抵押贷款)and a child, you often feel you have very little choice about jumping ship if things aren’t turning out as you’d planned. A steady paycheck can be the biggest restrict of all. People hate having to do something because they have no other choice.

If you find yourself hating your job, your option takes the form of an up-to-date resume(简历). You might also take a weekly glance through the help-wanted section, and make some visits to industry functions where low-key networking can take place. You’re not giving up on your current job. Rather, you are providing yourself with an option. If things get unbearable at work, you could jump ship.

At the core of adopting a positive attitude to your workplace is, above all, assuming responsibility for your own situation. Most people feel controlled by their environment, but they really aren’t. They have to learn to manage that environment so they can get from it what they need.

A recent survey found children would rather be online influencers than astronauts. It made headlines and led to plenty of complaints about “kids these days”. Is influencing a promising career path? The lifestyles we see advertised on social media are enticing, but under the shining appearance lie uncertain income, pay inequality, disability and mental health issues.

Successful influencers will be the first to claim that anyone can make it in the industry. However, social media economy experts uncovered a huge income gap between successful influencers and everyone else. For most people trying to become an influencer, their passion projects of content creation often become free work for brands.

Most influencers are self-employed, often experiencing inconsistent income and a lack of protection that comes with long-term employment. The risks of self-employment are increased in the influencer industry by an absence of industry standards and little pay transparency(透明度). Influencers are often forced to assess their own value and determine fees for their work. As a result, content creators often undervalue their own creative labour, and many end up working for free.

Influencers are also often at the mercy of algorithms (运算法则) — the behind-the-scenes computer programs that determine which posts are shown, in which order, to users. Platforms share little detail about their algorithms, yet they finally determine who and what gains visibility and influence on social media, the threat of invisibility is a constant source of insecurity for influencers, who are under constant pressure to feed platforms with content. If they don’t, they may be “punished” by the algorithm-having posts hidden or displayed lower down on search results.

Constant online presence leads to one of the most common issues in the influencer industry: mental health concerns. Influencers can connect to their platform workspaces and audience at any time of day or night, which can lead to them overworking. Coupled with the fear of online criticism, it contributes to mental and physical health issues.

Although becoming an influencer may look appealing to more and more people, the industry’s dark underside needs to be made visible and improved through enhanced employment regulation and industry-led cultural change.