1. it's not smart men cons are after, it's overconfidence. most truly "smart" people admit uncertainty and exhibit healthy skepticism. doctors, like many professionals, tend to be rewarded for exhibiting overconfidence.

2. people tend to call decisions poor because they result in perceived bad outcomes (from the perspective of the person making the judgment), without considering the range of all possible outcomes (the number of which is bigger than our brains can cope with). if most outcomes would have been "bad" ones, then the decision made might have been the best one possible without necessarily leading to a "good" outcome. (many such misperceptions and misattributions are possible when judging decisions in hindsight)

we like to tell ourelves stories that put us at the top of the heap (or similarly put others "below" us), regardless of the truthiness of those stories.