Become More Intelligent

George Washington Carver Museum, Tuskegee Institute in Alabama

Our lives have more connection points, dependencies, and variance than ever due to technology, social media, and information overload, and this environment results in unique challenges and potential mistakes that are amplified, unforgiving, and difficult to recover from.

To navigate complex environments successfully in your work or personal life, we must recognize and solve problems more quickly. We need to counter by becoming more intelligent.

What is Intelligence?

Intelligence is tossed around too casually, whether about an articulate person discussing a topic or someone who holds a degree or position making much money. But speaking is a skill that can be mastered with practice; we don't all run the race of life at the same starting line, and CEOs, lawyers, doctors, and politicians are not infallible.

Intelligence should also not be confused with creativity, memory recall, the ability to do well in trivia games, and other attributes society tends to associate with intelligence.

Except for extreme cases (such as Mozart and Einstein), studies have shown that experts don’t have higher problem-solving skills or memory recall than others. Their perceived genius is drawn from domain-specific repetition and expertise, which helps them recognize and solve familiar problems quickly. Still, it does not mean they are excellent problem solvers in other aspects of their lives.

1. Expertise

Bedroom in Arles by Van Gogh

A well-known cognitive psychology experiment (Chase and Simon, 1973) arranged 24 chess pieces on a board for test subjects and divided subjects into groups of experts and novices.

Researchers revealed the pieces arranged on a chess board for five seconds and then asked the participants to put them on an empty chess board as best as they could remember.

The researchers found that when the pieces were arranged to match a chess game, experts could correctly place 16 chess pieces, while novices could place only four.

But when the 24 pieces were arranged non-logically on the board in a manner that did not follow the rules of chess, there was little difference between novices and experts in recall.

An expert uses patterns to store memories in the brain efficiently.

This is because expertise in an area improves memory, as experts can see patterns. An expert uses patterns to efficiently store memories in the brain, allowing quicker and more accurate recall.

This is why expertise is the first attribute in the cognitive theory of intelligence. When something becomes familiar, it becomes automatic, and less mental effort is needed, allowing an expert to focus on improving the task rather than retrieving details.

2. Create Solutions

However, expertise and the ability to recognize patterns is not enough.

We see this all the time. The recognized experts and leaders and their teams repeatedly steer the ship into the same iceberg. The same problems and ineffective solutions are repeated. Even worse, it is tolerated by others, and criticism is often brushed off and the bad results are even defended, often by citing the expertise. "He's been here for ten years; I think he knows better than you," or "She has a degree and background in this field. What is your degree in?"

But if they are experts, why do they keep making the same mistakes or incapable of fixing them? We are told not to judge or question. They are experts and as such, beyond reproach.

So why do they keep making mistakes? The mistakes continue because these experts are missing the second attribute of intelligence: creating solutions.

The ability to organize the variables that make up a recognized pattern so that the conflict is understood at its foundation and then create a solution is a skill often missing.

Although people with education and experience can identify patterns and problems, without the ability to fix them, issues persist and repeat.

People with this attribute can look at the data and find a path to a successful resolution. Companies are great at identifying experts from a resume and job interview; they are less successful at identifying those who can problem solve, partly because it requires the interviewing manager and team to have this awareness themselves first to recognize it in others.

Another challenge is that companies often make promotions based on expertise without accounting for the individual's role in problem-solving, which causes other issues down the road (i.e., the Peter principle). This too requires upper management to navigate through the self-promoters that exist in the workplace and correctly identify the people on the team or project who have problem-solving skills.

They are a subgroup of experts but are valuable if you can get one on your team or as a friend.

3. Influence Change

Childhood home of MLK, Atlanta

But one more step still differentiates experts and problem solvers from the most influential and effective people. The third attribute of intelligence is the ability to influence others to reach a measurable result, as results matter.

An intelligent person can see the problem, recognize the solution, and then rally others to execute the plan to its successful conclusion. After all, what is the point of being an expert and noticing a problem, if you just shrug it off and are unable/unwilling to resolve it?

In contrast, those with all three attributes of intelligence make things better. These are the people who mentor, create a solution or process to move forward on a stuck project, divert a crisis in your personal life, and can change the world (assuming anyone listens and the advice is followed).

It could be a conversation, a task, or an example to follow. It can come in many forms, but as a manager, you want these people on your team. Even better, you are one of these people.

Improving Intelligence

But if you are not there yet, no worries: Become intelligent. In the cognitive theory of intelligence, anyone can be more intelligent.

Because intelligence is not defined by genetics or environment (two things we mostly cannot control) or abstract and arbitrary standards like SATs or IQ (which means nothing in the scheme of things because having those numerical values doesn’t solve any problem or produce a result), it means that ANYONE, with experience and training in a subject area, has the capability and potential of becoming the next Mozart or Einstein of their paradigm.

If one wants to, of course.

Mozart was composing from the age of 5. By age 20, he had practiced thousands of hours to unlock his potential and give himself the opportunity. The best mechanic in town has been working on cars for thousands of hours, perfecting their craft.

Self-improvement is the key to becoming more intelligent, but it requires the desire to recognize which intelligence attributes are missing or need improvement, an interest in searching for patterns and connections outside of your own biases and conclusions, and a willingness to embrace and collaborate with others.

By embracing self-improvement and actively seeking to expand our intelligence, we open doors to new opportunities and insights. We become more adaptable and capable of understanding the complexities of the world around us, and this is needed now more than ever.