When I was tested for IQ about 35 years ago, I got a resultant IQ of 141. This is pretty good. Not a genius. Not brilliant. Just "gifted."
I've never been entirely sure what sort of "gift" this is I supposedly have, or what it gives me. Can't say I've been tremendously successful at anything in particular. Might be a lack of effort. Might be "lack of clue."
But one thing I think I do rather well. I recently stumbled into an online group discussing how to get folks "engaged" in their activities. And my first question was, "What do you mean by Engaged?" I'm still waiting for the answer to that one.
I like to think I have a gift for asking the right questions at the right times. That doesn't mean I have all the answers; I don't have most of the answers about most things, and I have none of the answers about many things. But I can generally tell what the right question is, at the moment. And I can generally tell when there's a different question that needs to be asked, and what that question should be. Answers are not my department. I might go for long periods saying nothing at all, apparently contributing nothing but silence to the discussion. Then I ask the Right Question.
That isn't a popular talent. Folks like to feel smart. Being asked the Right Question makes clear that one does not have the Right Answer, not yet. And one appears so much less clever when one lacks that Right Answer. The Right Question points out that there's more work to be done. Often, the Right Question is, "Why doesn't the Emperor have any clothes on?" (I mean it in the nicest possible way.)
I have a habit of asking those questions, and that can piss people off.
Just "gifted," I guess.
I've never been entirely sure what sort of "gift" this is I supposedly have, or what it gives me. Can't say I've been tremendously successful at anything in particular. Might be a lack of effort. Might be "lack of clue."
But one thing I think I do rather well. I recently stumbled into an online group discussing how to get folks "engaged" in their activities. And my first question was, "What do you mean by Engaged?" I'm still waiting for the answer to that one.
I like to think I have a gift for asking the right questions at the right times. That doesn't mean I have all the answers; I don't have most of the answers about most things, and I have none of the answers about many things. But I can generally tell what the right question is, at the moment. And I can generally tell when there's a different question that needs to be asked, and what that question should be. Answers are not my department. I might go for long periods saying nothing at all, apparently contributing nothing but silence to the discussion. Then I ask the Right Question.
That isn't a popular talent. Folks like to feel smart. Being asked the Right Question makes clear that one does not have the Right Answer, not yet. And one appears so much less clever when one lacks that Right Answer. The Right Question points out that there's more work to be done. Often, the Right Question is, "Why doesn't the Emperor have any clothes on?" (I mean it in the nicest possible way.)
I have a habit of asking those questions, and that can piss people off.
Just "gifted," I guess.
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