A recent story by Fast Company says that intelligence is overrated when executives are hiring and if they consider the candidates’ intelligence as a primary criteria for the selection.
One section of this story says—”Does the person work well with others? This is critical in virtually all workplace endeavors, and is often much more important than intelligence. Another way of putting this is, how good is the person at using or relying on the intelligence of others? How good is the person at knowing when he or she does not have the right answer, and ought to go ask someone else? How well does a person understand the hierarchies in various social institutions?“
The article made me think about intelligence in our technology work.
If the candidate has the capability and the awareness that they should reach out to others to ask questions, is it not intelligence? And what does it mean to build on others’ intelligence—it needs some intelligence to ask questions from those who are intelligent.
So, intelligence is self-awareness, and curiosity, and goals-awareness. Add intelligence is confidence too.
Earlier this year my ten years son asked me what is intelligence.
I added to my reply—”Intelligence is cultivating curiosity on purpose, and this is more important than our natural curiosity.”. This is why I encourage asking questions in the product teams.
Intelligence is building on and building by intent, and then applying our intelligence is an extension of our intelligence itself. If you think that you are not intelligent enough and so you are asking questions and seeking help, you are more intelligent than many others about whom you think that they are intelligent.
