Superpower #24: Intelligence

                                         

I want to finish this series of essays on a superpower I know you underestimate in yourself: intelligence. You need to appreciate and allow this superpower to flourish in your life. 

When I was in college, I read a book that changed my life (I know, I know, you are all sick of me telling you about the books I love. But it’s kind of like how your brothers insist on talking about sports heroes, or your dad talks about the lawn and trees. We are all drawn to and are made to love certain things. And then we do them, no matter what else interferes in our lives, and we want to tell others about them. For me this has always been, and likely always will be, reading. But I digress. About this one particular book). The title was Multiple Intelligences, New Horizons in Theory and Practice, and I had to read it for a course in the honors program I was enrolled in. I only bring up the honors program because it will be important later in this post.  It is not an exaggeration to say that this book literally changed my life. But first, a little back story.

I spent most of my life believing I was smart. Every indicator in every circumstance pointed me in that direction. My dad swears that he showed me the word “Milk” written on a piece of paper when I was just a toddler and I read it back to him. My mom loves to tell the story about how she exclaimed at my first parent teacher conference, “I didn’t know you taught them how to read!” and my sweet kindergarten teacher responding “We don’t!” with a sheepish laugh. According to family legend, I taught myself. When I was in first grade, I vividly recall the day that they were assigning small groups for reading class. Even though the teachers tried to hide it, it was always clear to everyone that the groupings were tiered by ability—the “smartest” kids went in one group, the average in another and so on. They called us something innocuous like “the bluejays” and “the cardinals” but we all figured it out quickly (at least I did, but then, I was the smartest ha ha). You don’t have to be assigned to the best groups very often to start to absorb that intelligence is part of your identity. This morning in first grade I was horrified when my name was not called for any of the groups. I was a painfully shy and timid child at that age (no, really!) and I was nearly in tears as I raised my hand to ask where I belonged. The teacher told me I was going to a “special” group in the other 1^st grade classroom. Pretty quickly, I learned that they had pulled together the "smartest" kids to take on a much more advanced curriculum. Later, I was identified as “talented and gifted” (I don’t know if they do that anymore) and was given all sorts of extra learning opportunities, which I adored because I love to read and learn. All I’m trying to illustrate with these stories is that school and academics were nearly effortless for me. I read fast and voraciously, I think quickly and speak easily. I’m naturally intellectually curious and quick. It takes no effort for me.

I spent a lot of my early life feeling quite smug and self-satisfied about this skill, even though I had done little to develop it beyond that which I naturally loved to do--read. I once read (yes, reading again. You know by now that a solid 25% of my sentences start with those three words) an article about reading by author Zadie Smith. I always remember it because it is so reflective of me and my relationship to reading. “I think that if I were a very good swimmer, I would be proud to be so, but being proud of being a reader, in my case, is like being proud you have feet” (from “What It Means to be Addicted to Reading”, published on Oprah.com). It’s the same for me. I was considered “smart” because so much of traditional education depends upon reading and I read with the same effortless abandon and unselfconsciousness as I have feet. But it wasn’t until I read Multiple Intelligences that I realized how unjustified my pride about my intelligence was.

The premise of this book is that there are actually 8 different types of intelligence. The book suggests that everyone has different strengths and learning styles across these areas, but that our modern education system really only focuses on 2 of the 8: linguistic intelligence (of which I perform off the charts) and logical/mathematical (of which I am competent, though not exceptional. The trick for me was that I could speak, write, and memorize so well that I could overcompensate for my personal lack of computing skill in all but the most technical and calculational of assignments. I also very quickly steered my education and later my career away from the areas in which I did not excel). An enormous light bulb went off for me as I read this book. I wasn’t as brilliant as I thought. Or rather, I was, but in just one very lucky area of intelligence that was recognized and celebrated by the world at large. Nearly EVERYONE is brilliant in some way, it’s just that some are celebrated more than others.

I looked up the 8 intelligences just for your reference (but feel free to skip this part and get to where I start talking about you again). They include:

1.    Linguistic Intelligence: This involves sensitivity to spoken and written language, the ability to learn languages, and the capacity to use language to accomplish certain goals.

2. Logical-Mathematical Intelligence: This involves the capacity to analyze problems logically, carry out mathematical operations, and investigate issues scientifically.
3. Spatial Intelligence: This involves the potential to recognize and manipulate the patterns of wide space as well as more confined areas.
4. Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence: This involves the use of one's whole body or parts of the body to solve problems or create products.
5. Musical Intelligence: This involves skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns.
6. Interpersonal Intelligence: This involves the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations, and desires of other people and to work effectively with others.
7. Intrapersonal Intelligence: This involves the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one's feelings, fears, and motivations.
8. Naturalist Intelligence: This involves the ability to recognize, categorize, and draw upon certain features of the environment.

Here is where this letter starts to be about you. If I have accomplished anything in the writing of this blog, I hope it is to point out that you are remarkable, exceptional, and unbelievably wonderful in so many ways. You literally have a vast array of superpowers at your disposal. The problem is that I don’t believe you trust in your own intelligence. And I want you to know that it is, undeniably and without question, one of your best superpowers.

You. Are. Brilliant.

You’ve managed to maintain an exceptionally high grade point average throughout your high school career, and I fully expect this to continue into college. As I’ve mentioned in describing other superpowers, you are organized and efficient and you take care of business. You are confident enough to speak up and ask for help when you need it, and you always do well when participation or leadership are included in the overall grade. But you are also very smart. You are intelligent in the ways they test and celebrate, and you are intelligent in some of the more unsung of the intelligences. You are smart, and I want you to remember that always. I think you look at others and put yourself below them in this area. You shouldn't. You aren’t a big reader (to my dismay), and you aren’t necessarily drawn to deep intellectual topics. You might not be as book smart as you are street smart but trust me, as someone who excels far more in one (the book kind) than the other (the street kind), both are a true and important measure of a person’s intelligence. Do not overvalue one, particularly when assessing your own capabilities and potential. And don’t undervalue your own book smarts. They’re deeper, and more super, than you realize.

If you were to take a test that evaluated you on all of these 9 intelligences, I believe you would likely score the highest on number 4 (bodily kinesthetic) and number 6 (interpersonal). As we wrap up this testament to all of your superpowers, I hope these are well and deeply celebrated throughout these letters. As we are all inclined to do, however, you will underestimate the value of this intelligence and think everyone has it, but trust me, they don’t. I actually went out and found the book so I could quote verbatim the following description of the depth of bodily kinesthetic intelligence through a description of the myriad calculations required to hit a tennis ball:

In order to anticipate how and where to move the feet and whether to take the racket back on the forehand or backhand side, the brain must calculate within a fraction of a second the moment the ball leaves the server’s racket approximately where it is going to land, and where the racket will intercept it. Into this calculation must be computed the initial velocity of the ball, combined with an input for the progressive decrease in velocity and the effect of wind and of spin, to say nothing of the complicated trajectories involved. Then, each of these factors must be recalculated after the bounce of the ball to anticipate the point where contact will be made by the racket. Simultaneously, muscle orders must be given—not just once, but constantly refined on updated information. Finally, the muscles have to respond in cooperation with one another…contact is made at a precise point that depends on whether the order was given to hit down the line or cross-court, an order not given until after a split second analysis of the movement and balance of the opponent…Even if you are returning the serve of an average player, you will have only about one second. Just to hit the ball is clearly a remarkable feat; to return it with consistency and accuracy is a mind-boggling achievement. Yet it is not uncommon. The truth is that everyone who inhabits a human body possesses a remarkable instrument (Gallwey, 1976, pp. 33-34; Multiple Intelligences 28-30).

So much for our culture’s insistence on the “dumb jock”. Remember this when you want to cast yourself in that role or think that all you can do is play basketball and other sports. Your intelligence goes so much deeper than that.

I also find the current conversation about AI fascinating in the context of what it is likely going to mean for you and your siblings and our collective human future.  On my work from home days, I often dive deeply into the topic (mostly through audio books and podcasts that I can listen to while I catch up on laundry). It is fascinating to me that AI is rapidly closing the gap in communication capabilities, particularly written communication, for so many people. I have been telling people that I can’t really find any good uses for it, yet, but then, I don’t need help crafting a good email which is currently how most of my work colleagues are using it. I also work in the field of new product development for a construction equipment manufacturer so I know that robotics haven’t progressed nearly as far as the pundits and analysts would like us to think. I heard one podcaster comment something like “AI is progressing much faster in the world of language and philosophy than in the world of physics.” In my own fairly rudimentary musings on the topic, it seems there is something inherently and indescribably human about our bodies. It is entirely possible that a profound superpower in the bodily kinesthetic space will be an enormous asset in our AI infiltrated future. An ability to write a good sentence or read prolifically, the current metric for perceived intelligence, will easily be outsourced to a machine and likely in the short term. The way that our bodies move and interact in the world, at least for now, will not.

I think it is safe to say this is equally true for the other intelligence I picked for you. Your interpersonal strength will serve you exceptionally well into your future. Being “smart” about people, or what was popularly described as “Emotional Intelligence” or “EQ”, has widely been recognized as being more predictive of career and monetary success than “IQ” which typically measures the sort of book smarts that schools teach and measure for. I’ve described your knack with friendship and influence repeatedly in these posts, so I won’t bother to linger there again.

The essential point of all my words in this post is this: you are so smart. You are smart in all the ways that matter, and I really hope you never, ever underestimate or forget how truly super you are.