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Back to the Forum Archives I have made a number of mistakes about this concept until I finally began to think it through. I regularly mistook the combination of intelligence, discipline, and integrity for genius. This caused me to make some errors in judgement that lead to later disappointment. I had expectations of others they could not fulfill. I particularly remember one young engineer who impressed me with those combined qualities. I fully expected her to become a star. She did not. In fact, she opted out and became a station-wagon garden-club mom. I have since concluded that discipline and integrity are completely unrelated to genius. They are admirable qualities for sure, but are more likely the result of operant conditioning rather than genius. I feel the same is true even of intelligence. The relationship between intelligence and genius is not as direct as I once thought it was. One does not derive from the other. In fact, I know some very intelligent people who do not have the wisdom to duck even when they throw crap in the fan. So what is genius? From the Microsoft® Encarta® Reference
Library 2003. We get the first definition of genius as: That may be a good place to start, but it is too inclusive and it does not really define genius. Giving examples is not a definition. In addition, I don't think genius has necessarily to do with talent, skill, or achievement. I think it has to do with adaptability. I think the best definition I can give is that genius truly is the ability to adapt to an ever changing environment. A genius is a person who can shift gears. A genius can transfer and adapt ideas, methods, and skills from one field into another unrelated field and create new solutions. Of course, that includes the ability to see the gestalt, to make the connection, to notice, like Monk, what is missing. For those who missed it, Monk is the perfect detective. He is the lead we see in the ABC TV show Monk. If you missed it, don't fret. The reruns will commence soon. I'm sure the show will not last two seasons. The writers of the show, very stupidly, assume and require an intellectual audience. Monk is an obsessive-compulsive with an overwhelming compulsion to put things in order. He looks at a scene and knows if there is something wrong. He expects to see the gestalt. When he doesn't, he sees what the missing thing is. He visualizes the gestalt. This gestalt perceptive ability is precisely what most engineers lack. The typical engineer's world is a kaleidoscope of discreet unrelated elements. To put them in order, the engineer must know the rules of procedure for his particular discipline. Without them, he cannot function. As Maslow put it, "Science can be defined as a technique, if you would, whereby uncreative people can create and discover." So scientists are usually not geniuses. They are people with training and discipline. I think history has shown us very few real geniuses. It does not necessarily follow that the world has produced very few geniuses. There is still the matter of gaining presence on the world stage to make a mark. Considering the millions of us there are, that opportunity will be very small. In human history, at any particular time or era, only a handful of people determine the course of events for good or evil. Looking more closely at any given historical situation, it is often only a single person. In the formation of the United States, that person was, I believe, Benjamin Franklin. He, more than any other person, defined the shape and form of our government. He is the man who had the genius to turn the wishes of his associates into a viable reality. The others helped bring it about, but he is, beyond doubt, the architect of American democracy. You may say that George Washington is the father of our country if you wish. To be sure, he was our first President and he declined to be king which surely saved us a great deal of grief. In fact, all of our founders could be described as superior people. However, I will insist that Franklin was a more complete superior person. He was a true dominant and the intellectual leader of these men. Franklin was a true American genius. Now, I do not wish to conclude that a genius is a rare accident of human evolution. I fully believe that the potential for genius is inherent in all humans. In most of us, for many reasons, it has not blossomed. I don't think the fault is in the water or the feed, so it must be in something we are doing. In fact, I'm sure it is something we are doing to our children. Instead of nurturing creativity, we nurture conformity. We reward that which we call good behavior which is really doing what we are told, conformity. I am here to tell you that is not the way to encourage creative genius behavior. It is the way to create performing parrots. What say we cut it out! Gaffer:
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