Pushing Our Brightest to Higher Performance through Awareness Coursework

Gifted individuals are untapped national treasures that represent what is best about society in the sense that they push human thought and performance to new levels. Unfortunately, our society has a difficult time identifying gifted individuals, challenging them, and encouraging them to perform at the highest levels. Identifying potentially giftedness in college students and placing them in a course designed around self-awareness of their unique talents can improve their performance and raise their confidence.

Giftedness is a physiological and psychological difference that leads to higher levels of performance. The process of challenge, stress, disintegration, and reemergence is uncharted territory for many researchers. Theories have discussed the difficulties gifted individuals face in their over excitabilities (OE) and positive disintegration that leads to higher performance.

Students may go through their whole lives wondering why they think differently, act differently, get excited about some ideas, and can move in and out of “flow” where the outside world ceases to exist. The higher their intelligence, the more different they see themselves as they rub against conventional wisdom. It is precisely these traits and challenges that push them willingly, or unwillingly, into higher forms of human development.

If the purpose of higher education is to enhance individual knowledge and performance, then such classes should be seen as important. According to Overzier and Nauta (2014) having a gifted class can lead to stronger overall performance of the student. Some individuals may go on to invent new things and solve world problems.

One of the reasons why an awareness class leads to higher performance is that it gives a stronger context for one’s behaviors, thoughts and actions that leads to higher forms of confidence. That confidence can make its way into future ways of thinking and performance. Confidence and high performance can be an unbeatable combination.

The idea of a class for gifted and high-performance individuals may have positive benefits for the students, colleges, and their countries. It makes one wonder that if students were selected based on performance and creativity and then offered a class about leadership, self-awareness, etc…that heavily loaded with these ideas, would it have an impact throughout their lives? In an online university, it may be possible to have a class that focused on the universal traits of high-performance individuals.

Overzier, P. Nauta, N. (2014). Coping with qualities of giftedness. Gifted & Talented International, 29 (1/2)

Intuition and Scientific Advancement Among the Gifted Population

Giftedness is a trait that comes with high intensity, motivation, love of learning and emotional sensitivities that make a person highly functional in the environment. Many countries have gifted enrichment programs to ensure that such individuals can fully contribute to the development of society. The U.S. has not fully developed their programs. Understanding the power of giftedness and their intuition that leads to career success is important in fostering their abilities for the benefit of everyone. 

Science has moved beyond the definition of giftedness and is working on better ways to select and categories giftedness for better development (Porath, 2013). Intuition is one of those gifted traits that lead to higher mastery of the environment and scientific innovation through perceiving differences within the environment. That perception matched with the rigor of scientific logic encourages new discoveries.

Intuition can be extremely powerful and can culminate in all types of useful conclusions that would have taken years with the normal investigative process.  Intuition is seen as a cognitive style that has been described as the “sixth sense” where the unconscious recognizes patterns and solutions to those patterns before the conscious mind is aware (Pearson, 2013). Such processes can be used to make accurate decisions and investigated for clarity afterwards. 

Intuition is so powerful it can do things science cannot yet explain fully. For example, intuition can lead to health choices that put cancer in remission, picking a better deck of cards for better results, and selecting items behind screens without seeing anything that would tip a person off. According to Dr. Turner book Radical Remission the body picks up on environmental cues unconsciously and makes conclusions that manifest themselves in physiological responses (Turner, 2014). 

Gifted individuals have powerful senses of intuition and logic that can lead them to unique AND innovative methods of solving problems.  According to studies on highly intelligent and creative people, gifted individuals often display a preference for either rationality or intuition (Karwowski, 2008). The style they rely on will impact how they understand and approach their world. 

Intuition among the gifted is an interesting and often unexplored trait where their biological and psychological preference matches to create unique powers of understanding and reasoning. The same skill that allows them to find new discoveries in their respective fields also leaves many unable to follow their train of thought. Gifted individuals are considered relatively rare among the population and ensuring they have the social, legal, and intellectual support/protection is important for advancing society. 

Karwowski, M. (2008). Giftedness and Intuition. Gifted and Talented International, 23 (1).

Pearson, H. (2013). Science and intuition: do both have a place in clinical decision making? British Journal of Nursing, 22 (4). 

Porath, M. (2013). The gifted personality: what are we searching for and why? Talent Development & Excellence, 5 (2). 

Turner, K. (2014). The science behind intuition. Psychology Today. Retrieved https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/radical-remission/201405/the-science-behind-intuition

The New Economy Requires More of an “Einsteinian” Approach

Einstein would feel at home in today’s world.  His creative genius in solving problems would be of great demand in today’s world. Gone are the industrial days where following simple instructions from start to finish guaranteed success in life. Today’s employment opportunities have a greater need for creative thinking, STEM, and unique approaches to solving problems.  The world is changing and society will need to catch up. 

A great many things in our society are still built off of the Industrial Era mentality. Our educational system, government offices, law enforcement, etc. continue to use a sequential pattern to process people and information in an inefficient and often ineffective manner. Contrary to institutional sluggishness, most businesses have already moved into the Information Era where they focus on competitive advantages to solve problems and reduce costs. 

According to the U.S. Bureau of Statistics between 1998-2004 30% of new jobs created were algorithmic while 70% involved complex heuristic work (Bradford, Manyika, & Yee, 2005). In other words, most jobs today don’t involve simple A to Z processing and require thinking at a higher level to effectively process information in a way the can generate new ideas. The use of creativity and intuition are not foreign in this environment. 

A paper in Educational Leadership highlights how creative thinking is more rewarded in today’s society than sequential thinking (Goodwin & Miller, 2013). The global economy requires new ways of educating people to use those skills and abilities that were second nature to geniuses. Education has the responsibility to meet the needs of preparing people for more complex work environments.

Einstein was considered “dim witted”, Thomas Edison had a “confused mind”, and Darwin was a “little slow”. They were characterized by “experts” in this manner because a healthy human mind was one that could easily follow instructions. Line up and take your number was the main criteria for success-not a whole lot of creative thinking needed. People were stuck where they were born regardless of their abilities.

Luckily things have changed for the better in most sectors of society. According to the paper divergent thinking, heuristic problem solving, and right brain thinking are needed in today’s world and should be taught, not thwarted, in education. There will be an increasing need for graduates to think beyond what is front of them and move into more complex thought patterns to overcome market challenges.  

When a person can think about problems from multiple vantage points they can be more creative. Likewise, it is necessary to try and understand problems as much as possible and make an intellectual leap when all of the information isn’t available. The right brain will need to be employed to tackle issues emotionally, intuitively, creatively, globally and analytically.

For those developing new products and solving complex problems they will need to come up with answers to very complex problems. They cannot solve problems simply by following pre-made steps but must move forward, upward, backwards, sideways and downwards to understand problems. The use of multidirectional perception is needed to tackle problems effectively. 

We can see this process occur in software creation, product development, consulting, science, and other fields that require heavy intellectual labor. As the economic output speeds up and relies less on physical attributes mental faculty will help in developing businesses to push the envelope of their industries. The educational process will need to adjust their processes to ensure that the brightest minds, not only the ones that can follow instructions, can move forward to meet the intellectual needs of employers. I’m sure that Einstein will find his employment options today much more to his liking than sitting on an assembly line.  

Bradford, C., Manyika, J., & Yee,L. (2005). The next revolution in interactions. McKinsey Quarterly, 4,25–26.

Goodwin, B. & Miller, K. (2013). Creativity requires a mix of skills. Educational Leadership, 70 (5).

The Nature of Genius in Today's Society

High Cognitive Ability (HCA) is something we idealize in society but don't often understand its nature. Those with HCA are known to have developed new and unique contributions to society that range from business to art. For example, Steve Jobs grew Apple into a successful business and Picasso produced master works in Art. Each of them had a unique skill that was channeled into some constructive activity. It is important to understand genius in society so they can be tasked for the greatest benefit.

I read a book entitled Genius Gift or Curse? by Dr. James MacLean that delves into the biological and key modifiers of genius behavior. He studies multiple geniuses throughout history and uses his own practice to understand how HCA influences life and behavior. The work further provides an understanding of the mixed blessing and curse high intelligence bring with it and the benefit of channeling this intelligence into some useful activity.

Genius can either be a positive force or a negative force. When genius is channeled into a useful activity it often creates new and profound additions to intellectual or artistic knowledge. However, when genius is not channeled it can become a destructive force. The genius and their ability to channel appropriately is based in their childhood experiences and the influences of others.

Geniuses also have higher levels of internal angst that cause tension to create and develop new things. This so called frustration encourages to fully lose themselves into some activity.  They have it is an internal desire to work on a new painting, write a new book, study the laws of motion, or any other topic/activity they find interesting.

The neuro-biological template of the genius is very different from other people. Their brains work at a faster pace and create a higher level of neural activity that leads to inspiration. Less loss of current occurs being the neurons because of a higher fatty brain material.

People with HCA often experience emotions on a higher state than others. Those biological skills that allow them to compose music, act, dance, and feel the hum of pleases sounds also offers higher emotional awareness. How this is experienced depends on the person and their ability to deal with these intense emotions.

Moral and ethical values are heightened in this population as they think deeper about the very nature of life and society. That philosophical side that were present in the moral sentiments of Plato and Homer are applied to daily questions of right and wrong. Genius become easily frustrated by lack of fairness or honesty in the system.

Genius are products of their biological nature and the environment in which they were raised. Each will naturally have an impact what types of activities the genius engages in. When properly channeled and groomed geniuses do a great many things but when their creative power is not channeled they often turn in on themselves and become destructive. Grooming those with HCA can pay dividends in the long run as society is advanced through their activities.

Signs of Scientific and Creative Genius in Business

Genius, previously termed gifted, is a person who excels in one or a number of fields in a manner that contributes something new and unique. Geniuses develop new ideas, concepts, artistic forms, or new scientific breakthroughs in order to advance the field. Businesses are naturally interested in geniuses because they can either solve new problems or create new discoveries. A study by Dr. Keith Simonton helps define the differences in creative and scientific genius and how these are impacted by genetics and life. 

Genius as a Creative Output

Genius is more than being intelligent or ranking high on certain abilities tests. It is also about the actual output marks the individual that creates it. For example, having all the abilities in the world is great but eventually they must be used to create something. A telltale aspect of genius is the advancement of a new artistic piece, a scientific theory, or literary work. 

Genius as Intelligence:

Creative genius and scientific genius may hold some similar traits but ultimately rely on different types of skills. For example, scientific genius typically has intelligence over 140 while creative genius has an IQ over 125. The reason may be more associated with the nature of test taking whereby creative individuals could see multiple answers to problems and may take longer to answer questions.  The higher forms of genius having greater broader skills that applies across multiple spectrums. 

Genius as an Environmental Factor:

Genius is not all biological. Some places and times in the world created more geniuses than others. These are certainly not due to the slow pace of biological development and more likely oriented toward the sociocultural aspects of society at the time. The right atmosphere can help more geniuses come forward with ideas and created golden ages in societies. 

 The Benefits of Applying Genius to Business:

Genius can have many uses and each advancement in knowledge or creative output helps push society forward. When applied to the business world it can have a significant impact on the type of products developed and the amount of profits a business can make. A single invention can change the trajectory of development creating new lines of market solutions and put companies on top of their game.

It may seem like genius in one field cannot be applied easily to business but this is not always the case. Artistic genius can be transferred to media arts and design, scientific genius to product development, and creative genius to solve strategic problems. The transference of skills may not be one to one but the general skills can apply to solve unique problems. Developing the right exploratory environment and applying the skills to a specific task can make a big difference.

Simonton, K. (2012). Creative Genius as a Personality Phenomenon: Definitions, Methods, Findings, and Issues. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 6 (9).