Problem Coworker: The Know-It-All

There is nothing worse than a know-it-all, especially in the workplace.

History has given us few actual know-it-alls. A better term might be universal genius. Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), for example, didn't just paint the Mona Lisa, he was also an architect, musician, inventor, engineer, and sculptor. Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646–1716), on the other hand, may have co-founded calculus with Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727), but he was also a philosopher, scientist, diplomat, librarian, and lawyer. And Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) wasn't just a prolific writer. He was also a politician, scientist, and philosopher.

Today, a more familiar form of the know-it-all is someone along the lines of Clifford C. "Cliff" Clavin, Jr., Norm's sidekick on the popular 80s TV show Cheers. Cliff was a postman, lived with his mother, and spent a lot of time passing on inane facts at the bar. He prefaced these with his familiar tagline, "It's a well-known fact." If the world were one giant Trivial Pursuit game, the "Cliffs" would be kings. But it isn't, and Cliff was usually treated like an irritant.

Nonetheless, Cliff provides us some insight into the psychology of the know-it-all. By making their character a middle-aged man living with his mother, the writers who came up with Cliff hit the psychological profile of a know-it-all right on the button. In essence, the know-it-all isn't really interested in imparting knowledge to the rest of us – their motives are more self-centered.

Even so, Cliff was endearing, if only because what he had to say was, however inane, usually correct. Which is much better than the more troublesome know-it-all, the type who always has a lot to say, none of which is factual, and which is often only intended to be disruptive.

Much better than the rest of us, know-it-alls have a powerful command of language and know how to manipulate a conversation. When a know-it-all disputes a fact, they do so by steering the conversation to a related topic that they know something about. Why? Because they want to prove that they know more about the topic than you do. They use an authoritative tone, and typically speak by way of statements are usually matter-of-fact and redundant. What they're really trying to do is steal the stage and provoke a reaction and, unconsciously, most of us play along. We retreat from our original statement and usually become disoriented. It's only later that we realize what we said was true, and what the know-it-all said was also true, and didn't disprove what we originally said. Or, we find that what the know-it-all said was true, but beside the point. Or, that it wasn't 100% true.

What to Do?

So how does one deal with a know-it-all? Being aware of what actually drives a know-it-all makes it a little easier to forgive their eccentricities. The response, "I guess so," is usually an effective way of taking the wind out of a know-it-all's sail, because it's neither an affirmation of what they have to say, nor a rebuke. "I have work to do!" is another way of ending the conversation. If those don't work, you might also try giving them tickets to Jeopardy, or offer to act as a character reference whenever they get around to joining MENSA.

But the best response to a know-it-all is to let them talk. Eventually everyone else will figure out what's going on, roll their eyes, and make for the proverbial hills.

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