Explore how you think–your intellectual bandwidth
Jim Cathcart
Intelligence, intellect, smarts – or whatever you call it – seems to be an aspect of human existence that is noticeable and in some cases,measurable, as with the I.Q. test. Smarts seem to catch > our attention.
But what exactly does it mean to be intelligent, to be smart? In 1921 Louis Terman defined intelligence as the ability to carry on abstract thinking. Robert Sternberg defined intellect as the ability to learn and use information to shape or adapt to our circumstances. I like that: the ability to learn, which means we build on information to shape or adapt our circumstances. Since man is the only animal to participate in and actively control the shaping of his environment, intellect is our unique talent.
Another way to define intellect is the ability to make distinctions. You see, distinguishing between all those buttons on the remote is what allows you to use them properly.
Every time you learn something new there is literally, physically, an increase in the neural connections within the neocortex of your brain. So when it learns something new, your brain is capable of learning even more new things than before. You physically have more connections with which you can access memories or solutions. If you want to have higher intellect, you need to see more distinctions. To know more, notice more.
We use our smarts to adapt, select, and shape. And each of these abilities can be developed. Adapting is when you accept the circumstances as they are. You maintain your original course. You compromise by adjusting a little bit in order to maintain the status quo. You might find yourself adapting when you get a new boss. You adapt to the change by watching, waiting to see what the new boss wants, and then adjusting your performance and behaviour to meet your new boss’ preferences or criteria. In adapting we don’t seek new options.
On the other hand, selecting involves analyzing the circumstances more thoroughly so you can select the preferred response or action. To select we need to seek new options. With a new boss you could select how and when to interact with her based on the best times in her day or her preferred supervisory style. To shape the situation you could meet with your boss to redefine your job and take on different responsibilities.
Thinking Styles: Your Intellectual Bandwidth
Another way of looking at these actions is to examine our correlated thinking styles: operational, strategic, and conceptual. Thinking style is not intellect, it is the way in which you use your intellect. Everyone has their own distinctive, natural style of thinking, which defines how they apply their intellect to most situations. Some people deal first with the concepts, others look first for the strategies or alternatives available to them, and still others look first at the functions or operations.
Another way of describing this is to use the computer community’s term “bandwidth”. Bandwidth is the term they use to describe how much information a computer can efficiently process at one time. If the computer can do ten calculations at the same time, it has a greater bandwidth than the computer that does only three at once. People have a bandwidth too. Start noticing how much information someone can process efficiently at one time.
Intellectual Bandwidth
Around 80 percent of the people you meet tend to think operationally, about 18 percent of the people tend to be strategic thinkers, and only about 2 percent will be conceptual thinkers. Again, operational thinkers adapt to the situation; they see what is and they adapt to it. Operational thinkers prefer to deal with one thing at a time. They are most efficient when they can focus on each item separately. Strategic thinkers tend to select the situations they want out of the many alternatives they’ve identified. Strategic thinkers are always looking at options and possibilities. They process several ideas at once and consider the relative value of each alternative. And the conceptuals see the whole thing in a much larger context and look to how they can shape the future. Conceptual thinkers have a huge bandwidth. They see relationships between everything.
Here’s a closer look: some people see everything on the practical or functional level, what it is, what it does, that’s the operational. The strategic see everything on the level of how it could be used, what effect it would have on other things. And then a small group are the conceptuals who see everything in the context of what it means, how it relates to the rest of the world.
An operational thinker might pick up a pencil and start experimenting with it to see how it writes.
A strategic thinker would start exploring the many ways the pencil could be used.
A conceptual thinker would reflect on how something as simple as a piece of wood and graphite could be used to advance mankind through written language and symbols.
Which of these styles is most natural to you? By the way, before you get hung up on judgment here, a lot of people might say “Well, hey, wait a minute! The conceptuals are more intelligent, they’re smarter than the strategics. And the strategics are smarter than the operationals. Therefore being operational is the least desirable of the three, right?” No, I don’t think so!
By the way, there’s a big range of difference even within the styles. There are conceptuals who are good idea people, and then there are conceptuals such as Albert Einstein or Buckminster Fuller who comprise some of the great minds throughout history. Strategic thinkers include everyone from top negotiators to architects and teachers who translate their ides into useful applications.
Operational thinkers range from someone like actor John Wayne to some of the world’s best parents. Technicians, athletes, carpenters, and cooks. But you’ll also find conceptual actors, strategic cooks, and operational entrepreneurs and inventors.
Ways You Can Observe And Grow Your Intellect
Independent of your thinking style, you can observe and increase your bandwidth somewhat by developing the elements which comprise your intellect. I’ve identified eight indicators of bandwidth which apply to all people and all eight can be developed. These are the ways in which one’s intellect is expressed or revealed. You can use these to observe the intellectual abilities and the thinking style of people and you can work on each of these to increase their intellectual possibilities.
Eight indicators of Bandwidth
1. Ability to Make Distinctions
2. A Wide Vocabulary
3. The Use of Metaphors and Analogies
4. Flexibility and Adaptiveness
5. Problem Solving
6. Time Orientation
7. Sensitivity
8. Memory
1. The Ability to Make Distinctions
The more you are able to notice, the more you are able to know. The more you know, the more options you’ve created for yourself. Start now to expand your awareness, noticing more, by completing this exercise: Im,ine you are a reporter who must accurately describe every aspect of a situation to others later on. Notice what you see, what you feel, hear, smell, taste, and otherwise experience.
2. A Wide Vocabulary
This is a vocabulary which is relevant in your world, not one that just comes straight out of an encyclopedia or a dictionary, but the vocabulary that applies to the world you live in, the things you work with, the people you connect to, the society in which you live, the culture in which you operate.
3. The Use of Metaphors and Analogies
The more a person can speak naturally in symbols and stories, the more information they can convey in a short time. All of the great teachers throughout history have been storytellers and the people who have made the most vivid impressions on us in speeches or in writing have been those who created vivid images of their messages – brilliant pictures and moving similes to bring home a point. The acorn story is a metaphor for personal growth. It compares the acorn’s ability to grow only into an oak to the innate and unique potential in every person.
4. Flexibility and Adaptiveness
The more options you see, the more flexible you’ll be. The more you understand the uniqueness and the individuality of each person, the less you’ll judge them and the more you can adapt to them. If you tend to insist on approaching life in the same ways day after day, you diminish your intellectual ability. Intellect thrives on variety and new information. See new ways, listen to people you’d typically ignore, travel different paths, read different magazines, go to different movies than you normally would. Cultivate your ability to be flexible.
5. Problem Solving
You can improve your problemsolving skills by learning certain systems, methods, and formulas for problem-solving – everything from creative thinking techniques to systematic checklists that you can use in solving the problem. An excellent model I had the opportunity to collaborate on is in the book Yes or No by Spencer Johnson, M.D. He divides decision making into two primary parts: practical and personal.
First the guides you through the “head” side of he equation using logic and analysis, then he leads you into the “heart’s” part of the decision. Questions such as How do I really feel about this? And Am I telling myself the truth? Reveal essential elements often overlooked in traditional problem solving.
6. Time Orientation
You can distinguish between the conceptuals, strategics, and operationals by observing how they relate with time. Operationals tend to be a little nostalgic, reflecting on the past and viewing the current reality as their main context or frame of reference. Strategics look at the present as it relates to the immediate future; they are always looking for alternatives and thinking about possibilities. Conceptuals, on the other hand, seem to be living in day after tomorrow or year after next. They’re always projecting their minds way beyond their current reality.
7. Sensitivity
The more you notice, the more distinctions you make, the more sensitive you’ll become to other people. If I only notice that you’re being resistant to what I’m trying to get you to do, then my response to that is probably going to be a defensive or aggressive response; I’ll just try harder at getting you to do what I want you to do. But if I can be more sensitive to why you are doing it, what you motive is for resisting, what you fear or what you are hoping to accomplish, my whole approach would change. The more I understand you, the less aggressive I’ll tend to be.
8. Memory
The more you remember, the more ways you can recall and use information strategically to your desired outcome. In a given situation, the person who remembers the most of what he or she needs to know will be the one who acts most intelligently to achieve the desired outcomes. So work on your memory, develop your skills, sharpen the ability to retain and inter-relate information.
Have you noticed that you’ve become more intelligent about intelligence? You’re making finer distinctions, you’re noticing more, and you’ll now see more ways to deal with intellect both in yourself and in others.
(c)1999 Jim Cathcart, La Jolla, CA This article is taken in part from Cathcart’s “The Acorn Principle TM – Know Yourself, Grow Yourself.” With 21 years experience, La Jolla, CA-based Jim Cathcart, CSP, CPAE is recognized as one of the worlds’ best speakers. As a psychological researcher and business consultant he has helped organizations grow their sales and improve their performance in virtually every type of industry. He is the author of “Relationship Selling” (the key to getting and keeping customers), newly published “The Acorn Principle Tm,” (discover, explore and grow the seeds of your greatest potential), and many other powerful learning systems. For a free poster on Ways to Grow Your Business and Expand Your Life contact the Cathcart Institute (800-222-4883. www.cathcart.com or e-mail Info@Cathcart.com).
Copyright Canadian Institute of Management Fall 1999
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved
