To think more well educated people are there to think and not do?

[Watdidusay]

In my professional experience I've noticed people who have degrees from certain unnamed better universities tend to be more hands off in work eg documentation, documenting planning, being proactive with reaching out to people for clarification or input.
I thought maybe I was just imagining it but this week I had a discussion with a colleague who has two degrees from top tier universities. We are in the same role in adjacent teams, at the same level so do the same job effectively.

This person does not contribute to documentation or reach outs or research at all - they say it's their job to think and they have to keep their mind free to be imaginative.
I know their team has complained a lot between themselves about this person not supporting them but I'm amazed by this attitude. That's not what the job is at all, certainly not how anyone I know does it.

This person also hasn't really had any intelligent ideas that I'm aware of.

Am I missing a trick here? Am I the stupid class and if I went to top tier instead of just Russell group id be getting other people to do the work while I daydream?

This isn't my experience OP.

Is it their intellect that is being used? In some roles it’s just knowing how to troubleshoot something while sitting with your feet up that they get paid for.

Your colleague is an idle piece of shit with a good line in patter.

Nothing more.

Don't believe what they say for an instant.

I used to work in a profession (librarianship) where we qualified by taking internal exams. The landscape changed and the new unis began to offer degrees in Library and Information Science. New graduates were coming in with a bit of paper we older people did not have. Few of them had any experience of library work and many were fast tracked beyond the level of their experience or abilities. We older experienced staff were accused of "sour grapes" because we were not graduates. I later went on to gain 3 degrees including a Ph.D. Looking back some of these new graduates with very average degrees (the average then was a 2/2) considered themselves superior because of that bit of paper.

Same role as me!

At appraisal time is there a glaring difference in your efforts? I know you won’t know his appraisal but somebody must be comparing?

I don't know what their appraisal says but they're very close with their direct boss (that's a whole different story though)

I don't think this person is lazy so much as arrogant. Arrogance isn't the sole preserve of the academic elite....but there sure is a lot of it there, very much helped along by a "we're the top 0.1%, you can't touch us" mentality! When these people become obscenely rich is when they really become obnoxious (mostly).

So you are well educated yourself. Do you think I are there to think then? I’m confused why you are berating people in the same position as yourself.

The person at work went to top 5 universities and said they are paid to think. I only went to RG so not in the same position, no.

They just sound lazy honestly

I can understand setting some time aside for creativity/innovation/thinking, I think that's smart as it is hard to see the wood for the trees if you're constantly grinding away at day to day stuff, but not attending meetings or reading documents and not producing anything at all is just someone slacking and being shit at their job. I don't think this reflects oxbridge/American ivy league graduates to be honest. Possibly its made this person feel that this job is beneath them, possibly. Could also just be they're not actually into it, are looking for something else, prefer academia (hence doing several degrees) or they're just a dickhead who has worked out they can sip coffee and delegate all the actual work to others. I've not experienced this with other people who are graduates from those places tbh. I've actually found them really hard working and interesting people (generally), there are always tits in the world though, wherever they study.

Whether you went to a ‘top 5’ or ‘RG’ university is irrelevant in general work places. Those metrics are invented by universities to attract more students. They don’t mean anything.

People from all walks of life are happy to cruise and be lazy whilst others work like demons.
Don't think it has anything to do with which university they did or didn't go to.

It's got nothing to do with the university, your colleague just doesn't want to do the work. She thinks she's above the boring bits and prefers to leave that down to you. There are a lot of people in senior roles like this, who are 'carried' by the rest of the team, who all complain and eye roll about it but essentially keep these CF delusional people in a job.

This person is either lazy or stupid or boths, and definitively deluded!

We had a guy in our department who excelled at academic learning, but made zero actual contribution to our department.

He went on a very expensive course to learn a particular area, then contributed nothing to that area at work. He would just go to meetings, but moved nothing forward. He was mates with our old boss. Then, We got a new female boss who spent 6 months observing everyone’s contribution. This guy was got rid of, and after he left, it made no impact to the department. Not a ripple! Except I got a promotion . My boss said that she was interested in contribution and couldn’t work out what this guy even did.

Anyway, with your colleague and team, keep talking about contribution. If this person contributes nothing, ask your boss about it.

Pretty much everyone I work with has at least a first degree from a higher tier university plus post graduate professional qualifications, quite a few have doctorates. I don’t know of one person who behaves in this way and it is a very large organisation. They wouldn’t last long with that attitude.

is this a man we are talking about here, perchance?

Lazy and self important, extremely few people are paid to just sit around thinking. I do have a family member like this, they believe they are right because they have a high IQ but they usually don’t bother with things like facts and information, just “I am clever therefore my view must be the right one even though I’m ill informed”. His equally clever sister is much more of a grafter and I would argue a better thinker because she gets stuck in and actually thinks and engages with whatever she’s discussing and doing.

I do have a few family members who have had trainees from elite universities, they still have to learn from scratch and most have the good sense to pay attention. I think it’s this specific person not people generally.

Agree with previous posters that this is about the laziness of an individual. I have a degree from a v top uni and am reasonably senior but still found myself doing admin tasks until my boss stopped me and observed that no man at my grade does that so why should I… I wonder if this person is a man?

I’d also just observe that you do seem to have jumped to the conclusion it’s to do with their education and maybe you should think about whether you have some inverted snobbery?

I mean. Not your circus if they are in a different team so I wouldn't get involved. On a theoretical basis though it depends on what their job description says. Some people are hired to think. Others to deliver. If you are paid to do a job and that includes the admin delivery side of it and you aren't doing it though then they require performance management regardless of their university. It's all about what their job description is though.

That’s the spirit.

It's not something I've ever noticed. I have an Oxbridge degree and during the course of my career (teaching) I've worked with quite a lot of others who did. I work hard and I can't say I've noticed any difference in work ethic in people with 'elite' university degrees. I suppose I don't work in a job where people can get away with just wafting around having fancy ideas though.

Having 3 degrees is being lazy. Studying is not paid employment - many self funded ‘academics’ freely admit they don’t so they don’t have to work!

I don't know about your coworker but thinking is doing something. Imagine if everyone just acted and no one did the thinking. There is purpose to thinking. Also, thinking uses energy just like "doing".