Everything intelligence

Even if we have never taken an intelligence test, most of us know intu-

itively what intelligence is. It’s partly very impressive general knowledge
exhibited by wunderkinds on “Mastermind” and “University Challenge”. It’s
partly about speed of uptake: explain the issue once and it’s understood. And
it’s partly about problem-solving.
Dictionary definitions of intelligence are succinct: the ability to learn,
understand and apply knowledge or think in an abstract way in relation to
new situations, or situations that cause anger. The act of comprehension,
reasoning or understanding. Synonyms are: bright, brilliant, brainy, clever,
quick-witted, smart.
From quite an early age most of us are acutely aware of peer differ-
ences in intelligence. Through long years of schooling we all notice that
some students are quite simply brighter than others. The brightest one may
even have been teacher’s pet. In the old days, before all had prizes, a cho-
sen few seemed to walk away with all the awards. This was made worse if
they were sporty and handsome to boot!
Bright people have often been the target of envy, and hence of preju-
dice and ridicule. It all seems so unfair in our happy, egalitarian land that
some people are brighter than others. And this might have led to the post-
Second World War demise of the intelligence test and to the many attempts
to undermine the very concept of intelligence. New terms such as capac-
ity, cognitive ability or information processing have been reintroduced as
substitutes to avoid using the word intelligence at all.
But all this changed in 1995 with the runaway best-seller, Emotional
Intelligence by Daniel Goleman. The book clearly struck a nerve. It argued
that emotional sensitivity and awareness (in oneself and others), as well as
the ability to manage emotions, are not only very desirable characteristics
but also a major predictor of success at work. In fact, it was argued, in a
data-free sort of way, that emotional intelligence was a stronger predictor
of work success than academic intelligence. Note at this point the discom-
fort of having to put a word in front of intelligence.
Thus the emotional intelligence industry was born, riding on the back
of the multiple intelligences idea popularized by two American psycholo-
gists. Though they could not (indeed still cannot) agree on the number of
or names for the multiple intelligences, they both agreed that we needed to
broaden the term “intelligence”. One (Howard Gardner) claimed there

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A. Furnham, Head & Heart Management
© Adrian Furnham 2008
72 Head & Heart Management

were seven (now eight), including the charmingly titled body-kinesthetic

and naturalistic intelligence; while the other (Robert Sternberg) reckons
there are three, including creative intelligence, and all of which fall under
the general label of successful intelligence.
And soon the floodgates were open. The next to appear was spiritual intel-
ligence. This movement to explore spirituality at work was confined to North
America; always struggling with how to reconcile religion and materialism.
Consider the following list:

1. Verbal or linguistic intelligence (the ability to use words).

2. Logical or mathematical intelligence (the ability to reason logically;
solve number problems).
3. Spatial intelligence (the ability to find your way round the environ-
ment and form mental images).
4. Musical intelligence (the ability to perceive and create pitch and
rhythm).
5. Body-kinetic intelligence (the ability to carry out motor movement;
for example, to be a surgeon or a dancer).
6. Interpersonal intelligence (the ability to understand other people).
7. Intrapersonal intelligence (the ability to understand yourself and
develop a sense of your own identity).
8. Existential intelligence (the ability to understand the significance of
life, the meaning of death and the experience of love).
9. Spiritual intelligence (the ability to engage in thinking about cosmetic
issues, the achievement of the state of being (for example, achieving
trance states), and the ability to have spiritual effects on others).
10. Naturalistic intelligence (the ability to identify and employ many dis-
tinctions in the natural world; for example, categorizing species
membership).

And then we had a whole host of intelligence “discovered” by authors and

researchers jumping on the bandwagon. So there is network intelligence
and even intuitive intelligence. Perhaps the best is sexual intelligence,
defined as the ability to seek out and maintain a fecund relationship with a
partner. In short it’s about wise mate choice.
Here is a list of a few more “intelligences”.

Political The ability to use formal and informal powers in a company

to accomplish objectives. The ability to know how to use
power in the organization prudently, judiciously and artfully.
 Everything intelligence 73

Social/Cultural The extent to which one is adequately socialized in a soci-

ety, an organization, or a subculture. Recognition and
understanding of roles, norms, routines and taboos, in
various settings.
Organizational Having a detailed and accurate understanding of how the
organization operates, both functionally and the time that
is needed to accomplish certain tasks within the company.
The detailed knowledge of how “to get things done” in the
company.
Networking The ability to get things done with multiple organizational
units. Accomplishing the goals of the company successfully
by effectively recognizing, understanding and managing
inter-organizational relations.
Creative The ability to diverge/innovate in thinking and create
novel ideas and solutions to problems. The ability to
address problems/issues with insight and resourcefulness
and to find unique solutions.
Intuitive The ability to gain quick insights into how to solve prob-
lems or to address situations without previous experience
of the problem, and without formally processing informa-
tion (for example, street-smart).
There are a raft of managerial intelligences, of course. It seems that all you
have to do now is take a business concept, preferably what used to be
called competencies, and put the word intelligence after it. So there is
innovative intelligence, strategic planning intelligence, and customer serv-
ice intelligence. A new concept, a new book, a new discovery.
The word/concept of “intelligence” is everywhere. We have intelligent
design for a God-created universe. We have intelligent systems at work.
We have now, publicly acknowledged intelligent agencies.
But we seem still to remain terribly wary of good old-fashioned timed
intelligence tests. We allow selection into our schools based on metaphys-
ical beliefs, but we dare not advocate an IQ cut-off point.
So, paradoxically, everything is an intelligence except real intelli-
gence. You may happily take an emotional intelligence or practical intelli-
gence or even a spiritual intelligence test. But try taking a MENSA-type
test and suggesting the results might be predictive of success at work and
life in general... So let’s hear it for intelligent intelligence!

Reference
Goleman, Daniel (1995) Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam.