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“Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it’ll spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.” – Albert Einstein
Posted by: leslie.williams
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Posted date:
May 11, 2011 |
10 Comments
Many of the ‘smartest’ executives I know have the greatest difficulty seeing the genius in the people around them. I see this especially with grit-based leaders, who often suffer from what I call “smart people’s disease.” It’s an affliction of the very intelligent, who feel they are surrounded by people who just don’t measure up to their standards. They have succeeded by knowing what they know, doing what they do in the way they do it, and acting and thinking as quickly as they think and act. And they assume that everyone else should and could do the same. In other words, they are expecting fish to climb trees.
As long as these leaders expect others to be carbon copies of themselves, they will be endlessly disappointed. They will also be unable to recognize, cultivate and leverage the sheer mastery all around them. And, as Einstein says, they will also be making a lot of geniuses feel stupid. This benefits absolutely no one.
What about you?
Try making a list of all the people in your world (staff, colleagues, bosses etc.) whom you feel just ‘don’t get it.’
Identify exactly what it is that each of these folks doesn’t ‘get.’
Then, identify at least one area of “genius” in each of the people you’ve listed. If you can’t find it, you haven’t looked hard enough.
How does that help you see this person differently?
As a leader, what can you do to help this person utilize his/her genius? How can you more intelligently and respectfully leverage that genius to benefit the team or the organization?
And if there really is no place for this ‘fish’ in your team or organization, then how can you help them find the water where they can really swim?
10 Comments for “Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it’ll spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.” – Albert Einstein
Ken Buch
You’ve beautifully captured the scenario that highlights the tension many people feel as they work with leaders who restrict them from working in their sweet spots of talent and skill. I love the quote and the blog!
Andrew Ponce
Leslie,
You are always making me think. 
It sort of reminds me of Miller’s Law.
I have a corrollary problem … staff who are fish and have a path, but want to be squirrels and climb trees because they think that only squirrels succeed. They never notice the awesome fish in the organization, just the squirrels.
Andrew
Becky
Profound, as always, Leslie. If we could let people soar with their strengths rather than complain about things they can’t do, oh, what a wonderful world it would be.
Anne P
Thanks, Leslie. Yes, I have to admit, I resonate with this story. Mexico is teaching me a ton about looking for a completely different definition of genius. I just met a woman named Chuey today in a pueblita called San Jose de las Flores who I think has a bunch to teach me about this. What’s hard is…what do I have to teach her? Vamos a ver…
Bob Devlin
HI Leslie – great reflections here – asking the question ‘what gift does this person bring’ and truly seeking an answer is a courageous act – especially when the answer isn’t obvious to us. In doing this we cannot help but look at ourselves in the mirror, question our own meaning making process, which puts in question our beliefs and world view. Perhaps that’s why we avoid doing this – after all, if what I’m doing is working well, why risk changing – we do have results to deliver and I wouldn’t want to put that in jeopardy.
The leader you describe here reminds me of Goleman’s ‘Pacesetter’ who says, “I know, follow me, so as I do, NOW.” They’re often successful, often ‘right’ and are hugely effective in turn around situations – though used exclusively or over a long period of time can tend to disempower or create burn out.
Paul Carrière
This is a simple yet profound message. It also underscores
the danger for so called geniuses to never go beyond their
perceptual lens. I can also see clear links to Emotional Intelligence.
Thanks very much.
leslie.williams
Thanks to everyone for these great comments. I find the dialogue really enriching…hope you do too!
Eric Lafayette
Leslie I believe that your concept is the right angle to approach people but recently I have been surrounded by many fishes that do not want to interact enough to even learn to swim and I am not trying to make them climb a tree
Some people in an informal group do not answer to emails in a timely manner:
They do not read their email every day and do not of course answer their email every day and when asked to reply faster their answer is: If it was that urgent, why didn’t you call me, ( the question was not super urgent but in order to make the project go forward an answer within 24 hours would have benefited all parties involved). It is a great waste of the sender’s time to have to send additional emails or to make a call ( a gigantic waste of time for a simple matter). In today’s world email etiquette show that a reply to an Email within 24 hours is a good way to proceed.
I have noticed more than one person around me that are resistant to using email promptly and regularly and in a reliable way.
An additional sign is that if you put three different subjects or matters they will only answer two of the three.
On the other hand they are perfectly comfortable buying on line any product which means that they can use a computer but they limit their use of the computer to menial and instant gratification and never bother to use a computer to at least 20% of its full capabilities.
My conclusion after many observations is that the email behavior I described is one of the sign of dumbness ( if they are under 40 years) but the dumbness has to be confirmed by other signs. I characterize dumbness in this case as an inability to answer in an organized and precise way which then hampers you because of their inability to communicate efficiently to help them. The other solution would be to become a full time help for these people which mean changing your profession.
Even if they are the greatest artist in the world they will make you spend or waste a lot of time dealing with them.
The same people are not organized and without exception they lock themselves out of their home or car, They will also when they make errors shift the blame in an unfair way on somebody else.
With that description of these people that cannot communicate in a modern and efficient way and make one error after another on very simple everyday actions my question is:
What is you recipe to work alongside these people in a non business environment such as: neighborhood council or small charities or amateur sports team?
My question is sincere and serious even if I painted a bleak portrait of my perception of some people
Thank you
Eric
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Leslie, thanks for these concise and timely tips to reframe how managers and leaders look at the people around them. We are getting ready for annual performance appraisals so I may incorporate your ideas – with full credit to you – and Einstein – of course.