Kinds of Smart

My son said, “You’re smarter than me.”

First of all, no. Second of all, he was referring to the kind of smart that I regard as the bottom of the hierarchy.

Knowing things.

Anyone can know things. And certainly I know more things than most 13-year-olds! Hanging around for a few decades will do that. I told him that there are several kinds of “smart” that I find more interesting and impressive than knowing things.

  • Knowing How To Learn Things. Now, that’s impressive. If you know how to acquire new insight…wow.
  • Curiosity. If you can’t help but wonder how something works, well, that’s what smart looks like to me.
  • Pattern Recognition. The people who can see how two unrelated-seeming things are actually related, or who find analogies that surprise and enlighten, or see how a problem they solved months ago can help them solve this new problem…these are the people who inspire me.
  • Creativity. Taking all the diverse stimuli around you and forging them into something uniquely your own…this is the birthright of every human, and the most potent sign of real intelligence I know.

What do you see in people that says “smart” to you?