Does intelligence matter?

11:00 PM last night, I was sitting on our terrace with a consultant from Accenture, having a drink and chatting, looking over the lights of the city. He told me that by nature, he was a theoretician and enjoyed an intellectual challenge, but his work has taught him that execution is the key. Our conversation turned to, why so many wonderful ideas never translate into singificant contributions to the real world. In short, what is the difference between imagining an elegant solution to a complex (business) problem and actually making it happen?

Intelligence is quite different from Knowledge. While knowledge represents the facts and skills that we have learnt, Intelligence claims to be a measure of our ABILITY to process information. Early theorists maintained that intelligence was the true measure of how well a person can learn and was largely inborn, hand hence could not be changed through training, etc. The dark days of intelligence testing was when it was used as a method for deciding that certain ethnic groups were better than others.

This is how the theory of intelligence works: Among various things we do, there are those that require us to understand shapes and patterns, other tasks require numerical ability, still others require verbal or language skills. Is there a correlation among these? If a person is good at some things, will that reflect in other tasks too? Hence was born the idea of a G factor, or a General Factor as a measure of some abstract "mental capacity". There are others who maintained that such a generalization is not possible and that there are indeed Multiple Intelligences, that help us achieve different things.

Measuring a single score, has all the problems of an AGGREGATE score in any examination. While a single composite or aggregate score makes it easier to make decisions, it gives us very little about the relative strengths and weaknesses of any particular candidate.

Much of this is passe, since Daniel Goleman, challenged the prevailing theory of a single intelligence by pointing out that this was not the only possible view. Since the publication of Emotional Quotient, there is talk about Spiritual Quotient, Relationship Quotient, etc.

All such tests are paper and pencil tests and measure the skill by giving the person, simulated situations and asking for responses. How well do these measures stand up in the real world? Most research suggests, that the correspondence between intelligence and performance in the real world is at best moderate. Goleman suggests adding Emotional Intelligence as another factor can help to improve the correlation between IQ and real world performance.

Around 2 am we finally came to the conclusion that there are indeed multiple intelligences. One could be the design intelligence, but it also needed relationship skills, emotional skills and something called BODY INTELLIGENCE. Body intelligence is the knowledge in our muscles, that cannot be put into words. The feel of the grain of wood or marble a sculptor needs to understand to work with it. I mentioned a friend of mine, a typist, whenever someone asked him for the spelling of a word, you could see his hands moving on an imaginary keyboard. The spelling was not in his head, but litterally on his finger tips. My son has developed a strong interest in Aero Engineering, but I tell him that he has to work with engines first hand, get the feel of how an Internal Combustion Engine works, get a feel for metals and meterials, know how they can be shaped. Imagining solutions is one thing, creating a workable prototype is another. Another friend of mine, an IIT Graduate, claims to have developed a working prototype for a revolutionary IC Engine, with much better energy conversion rates. His prototype remains on his work shelf, because he cannot trust anyone to take the invention to the next level, register patents, etc.

But then again, perhaps all this is not inborn or fixed. Perhaps there is a scope for improvement. Working with children with learning disability shows us how easier it is to help a child learn in the way that is most effective for that child. A small change in the way a child learns can make a big difference on his or her school scores. For example if a child cannot understand words by looking at them, encourage the child to read out loud and to learn from the spoken word rather than the written word.

The Talk Shop is devoted to helping people (both individuals and organizations) understand the relationship between knowledge, emotions, relationships and body intelligence. Then again, everything seems so much clearer at 2 am, sitting on the terrace with a friend, sipping a drink, watching the city lights, and discussing how ACCENTURE captures knowledge from new projects and solutions and makes it available to Accenture world wide. I wish it was as easy to build Talk Shop based on these thoughts. Then again, design intelligence is not enough... now where have I heard that before?

The Wet, Heavy, Blanket

The silence is oppressive, and lies like a blanket over everything and it is deafening, to say the least. The Governor of Nagaland says that the only way to curb HIV is through prevention. This, of course doesnt mean quite the same as say POLIO prevention. There are no vaccines, so prevention means changing behaviour. The same article also says by far the majority of HIV today is sexually transmitted. So how do we change behaviour? Well the only way to be SURE to avoid sexually transmitted behaviour is NOT to have sex at all.

But what success do you think there would be if I put up an advertising sign board saying..."SAY NO TO HIV; SAY NO TO SEX". The next best thing is monogamy. Ofcourse that is meaningful only if BOTH sides practice monogamy. I know many of my friends whose wives swear that their husbands are monogamous and i KNOW they are not! So many "monogamous" wives have a surprise waiting for them! Anyway the "politically correct" message seems to appeal to either those who are already monogamous or those who are not but SAY they are.

It seems to me, there are things that are not correct to speak about and this blanket of silence smothers and kills many people under it. Yet it keeps the world above it, sane and moral.

Digital Security

Lock
Originally uploaded by AMagill.

Digital security is all in the news. There is a lot of talk about how technologies like google earth prove a threat to our country. But here are two examples of digital security that make me wonder if we are barking up the wrong tree?

AT THE GROCERY STORE:

During the visit to the grocery store, I used my debit card. The sales man, after I swiped the card casually asked me "Whats your PIN"? The way he asked it made me think that it is how they operate routinely.

Speaking of cards, why does my credit card also have my signature on it? So that if someone does find it, he will have no problems faking my signature. And ofcourse online security is even greater, it asks for the three digit CVV number printed at the back of the card!!

DIGITAL SIGNATURE

I recently registered a company of which I am a partner. Current procedure requires that each partner takes a government approved digital signature. Of course this is a TRUSTED signature, that has been authenticated as mine. Now it happens my chartered accountant has applied for a signature in my name and used it to sign documents.

Now i trust my CA and I am sure he has only used it to make my work easier. But it raises some basic questions in my mind. Isnt it legally FORGERY to use another person's digital signature to sign documents?

So here is my question...what is the use of the worlds best lock, if we leave the key hanging nearby?

Democracy Alert - Complex Problems Simple Answers

http://www.nocriminals.org/

The core idea of the 'No Criminals' campaign is to launch a nationwide effort to enable large numbers of citizens to appeal to political parties not to give tickets to people with criminal antecedents in the upcoming elections.

APPEAL

Sixty two years after winning independence, India waits to be free again. To be freed from criminals who have muscled their way into power. In 2004, about one in five MPs had criminal records, including some with charges of heinous crimes such as murder, rape, dacoity and kidnapping. This seriously tarnishes the image of honest and eminent leaders who are committed to building a greater India. It is time for every citizen of India to become a freedom fighter and unite to free India from the clutches of criminals. As citizens of a free nation, we appeal to all the political parties to refrain from giving tickets to persons with criminal backgrounds. And take an oath to free India from criminals forever.

MY COMMENT:

If this was applied when India's first parliament was being created, how many of our heroes could have been politicians? Anyone who has stood for fundamental social change has been called a criminal. Also the label of criminal has been used in so many ways to discriminate against people all over the world.

The ideal of democracy is that ANYONE can stand for election and the people can choose. ANYONE includes women, ethnic minorities, under-represented groups and those who have been thought of as criminals. It is this kind of EXCLUSIVENESS that gives rise to movements like TERRORISM where people who have no voice try to express themselves. In the Gaza strip, a party that was considered to be "TERRORIST" won by free and fair elections! Though their lot has not changed very much as far as the rest of the world is concerned.

I am proud of being a citizen with the largest and most vibrant democracy ever. I believe that this great ideal has to be defended against all attempts to CLOSE THE MIND

Evil in the Garden of Eden ( Kerala)

"We decided to meet them and convey our concerns that liquor has been the single biggest evil which destroys families and people. We have a social commitment and we also decided to go ahead with our campaign against liquor all across the state," Latin Archbishop M. Susa Pakiam said.

Christian body launches anti-liquor campaign in Kerala

It looks like I will have to beg to disagree. In a recent meeting with young people in Kerala, I asked them what do you REALLY like to do? Of course we were discussing careers and stuff. But when I asked the question there was a silence among the otherwise talkative group. So I decided to probe a bit further. One young man said that he enjoys his weekends. I asked him what he did during the weekend. " I drink booze " he told me.

When the embarrassed laughter died down, I asked WHY? What does alcohol give you that you cant get otherwise?

He looked around the room and said "Somehow when I drink I can speak from the heart. When I dont drink there is something artificial about my life." I looked around the room to see several heads nodding in agreement.

Kerala is one of the most repressive societies I have known. Its a combination of unreasonably high morals along with the constant feeling of being watched. There is none of the anonymity that one gets from big metropolitan cities. In The PANOPTICON your every move is watched. Is it surprising that people want to break free?

Once upon a time in Malayalam Movies the villain were smuglers and underworld dons. Then they became corrupt politicians. In recent movies the villains are "MOBILE PHONES AND INTERNET" which are ruining our culture. Of course behind all this is the fear that WOMEN might escape from control. Here is an actual conversation I had with a gentleman over sixty while in Kerala.

"I just got back from a talk about how young college kids go to college but often never reach there. They go off on their own"

I said "Perhaps they are going places where they would not be allowed to go otherwise?"

Yes indeed, this is REALLY BAD. They often end up doing BAD things (read sex).

I said "I doubt that, but they are past 18, surely they can choose where they want to go and what they want to do?"

He turned to me and asked (and I quote as closely as I remember / can translate) "Lets be honest, if you were about to be married, would you accept second hand goods?"

When I said YES he said "You are just saying that for the argument"

I couldnt believe the words "SECOND HAND GOODS".

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In another incident, I was travelling by bus from Ernakulam to Kottayam. At the bus stand soon all the "Ladies Seats" were full. (I must say that often I have a hard time explaining to people why we have different seating for men and women in Kerala buses).

I was sitting alone on a seat meant for two people, when a woman came to me and asked me to get up! I looked at her and asked WHY? She said she had to go all the way to Kottayam and she wanted to sit down. I told her that (1) this was not a LADIES SEAT and (2) I have no objection to sharing the seat with her. I even promised her I would behave myself during the trip. She preferred to stand for the next 1.5 hours rather than sit next to me!
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In 1988, I married my wife. Since then when in Kottayam, she goes to our church. Having been raised a catholic she knew little of the rituals and order of service in our church. Not even when to stand up and when to sit. Yet in the church we could not sit together as a family. She had to sit among the women while I sat with the Men. I asked our parish priest several times for a solution, but the best solution we got was that we could sit together as long as we sat in the side-wing, and not in the main church. Since then you can understand why I have not been too enthusiastic about going to church!

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For one year we ran an educational program in Kerala. It was conceived to have two components, an offline component where students learnt about the world around them, as well as important skills. This included several field trips to different places to see and learn for themselves. But it was to have an online component where students were expected to surf the net, prepare assignments, chat with other club members etc. We soon learnt that many parents did not WANT their children to go online! Hence they were unwilling to invest in computers and internet. They considered this to be a "distraction" from their main thing....studies!

As a teacher and one who spends a lot of time thinking about education, I am convinced that the internet is as important to learning as PRINTING was once upon a time. The sheer availability of information and knowledge is changing the very way we process knowledge. While 100s of channels of TV beamed into our living rooms provided unprecedented information, its still passive. The internet is where children learn to SEEK OUT the information they need.

In the garden of Eden, eating from the tree of knowledge was forbidden. And when they did, Adam and Eve discovered they were naked! I wish we in kerala would focus not on restricting alcohol, but on the factors that make life unliveable without it!

Answer to my son

A couple of days ago, my teenage son asked me "why do you need management at all? Why not just let people do their work?" In the next two or three days the answer magically arrived on my desktop as a forward. As if the cosmos was telling me the answer to give my son.

Ok its rather cliched. But how would our organizations be different if we truly believed that people (1) want to work and that they (2) will work sincerely if they can?

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Mind of a Strategist - Musharraf

Several years ago, I was impressed by an impressario par excellance, Bal Thackeray. This was a man who knew how to take credit for things he did not do. He pretended to unleash terror in Bombay when he had as much power over the process as I did.... well its a figure of speech..give it a rest! I was impressed when he said that the violence was caused by his henchmen and they would stop whenever he wanted them to.

"Exactly. One must require from each one the duty which each one can perform," the king went on. "Accepted authority rests first of all on reason. If you ordered your people to go and throw themselves into the sea, they would rise up in revolution. I have the right to require obedience because my orders are reasonable."

____The Little Prince

The guy who made me think of all this is Prez Musharraf. He found a nice opportunity in the India-Pak rhetoric and cleverly got himself a lot of press coverage. Now that is what image management is all about. The comeback for someone who was so unceremoniously dethroned. Remember, he was forced to hold an election and then he said he would step down if he WON!! Its like saying I will hold an election if the ONLY outcome is that I win!!

But he does have a trick or two up his sleeve and who knows he may yet to see another battle!!

Knowledge Engine that COMPUTES knowledge

Stephen Wolfram claims he has found a way to scientifically computer knowledge! Read about it here. Now what does that mean and how is it different from "GOOGLING"? For one, the article seems to suggest that it uses Natural Language to understand the question and come up with answers. Remember the old ASKJEEVES.com that promised to provide answers to natural langauge queries??

Wolfram says that the program will answer only factual questions, questions that have only one possible correct answer and not ones that can have different opinions, perspectives. This would avoid "bias", it is claimed.

This brings me to the question of a hierarchy of knowledge. Once upon a time painters used to focus on trying to reproduce the real world through their skills. As photography developed it freed up the artist to focus on more abstract painting.

So what does this say for KNOWLEDGE? The easy availability of factual knowledge means that it is no longer something to brag about. Knowing a lot of facts doesn't make you wise. If so, what is the kind of knowledge that will be valued in the future?

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