We all have a different gift. What's yours?

Have you ever taken an IQ test or even wondered how intelligent you are? Parents often worry for their kids having sufficient academic skills or ‘intelligence’ while managers expect their team members to display excellent technical skills or ‘intelligence’ to fulfil their role. And what if we were not all meant to go through the same path or curriculum to grow and optimise our intelligence?

I tend to align to Howard Gardner’s theory and believe that the human capability is unlimited in all its forms and that once we find our fit, we excel in it. We are complex, we are a mix of mental, emotional and physical quotient to varying degrees and preferences. So why try to turn ourselves into someone we are not? Why try to make a manager out of someone with high mathematical-logical intelligence? Why try to make a lab scientist out of someone with interpersonal intelligence?

We nowadays have an array of cognitive/ psychometric tests available and most of them are used to define whether we fit into a specific role or can be considered a talent within the organisation. What they do not always tell us is where do we fit in specifically? Finding the fit should start earlier to help avoid frustration and alienation.

It is high time to find ways understand people preferences starting from childhood and help them optimise their intelligence, whether kinesthetic, artistic or other. On a related note, practice and perseverance definitely make perfect! And I need not here dilate on the benefits of learning music from an early age for example. What I mean is helping ourselves and others living a variety of experiences might lead to finding the right path; the one aligned to our different types of intelligence.

Therefore, parents – do not despair if your child is not good with maths, science or language; they might be otherwise gifted and providing them with some keys to different experiences will help them blossom. And managers – if you feel that communicating with others is not your preference, don’t be scared to go and find your talent.