It teaches the child that they're (wrongfully) responsible for the feelings of others.
People certainly are apprehensive when faced with somebody much more intelligent than they are, so this certainly isn't necessarily true in a workplace.
If you're intimidating to your co-workers, and it's because of who you are, the responsibility is on you to manage their emotions through your actions or you are going to be in trouble.
Hello, human nature!
Not human nature. Personal nature.
In my experience, you're not talking about the ones who are significantly smarter, just the ones who think they are. They intimidate coworkers not because they're smarter, but because they're obnoxious egomaniacs who never stop talking long enough to listen to people who are trying to communicate to them how very wrong they are.
I've worked with both, and I definitely prefer the first group. They're awesome.
