These are brilliant snippets from an HBR interview with Scott Barry Kaufman, adjunct assistant professor of psychology at New York University and author of Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined. He talks about the way standardized tests and personality assessments deny the unique intelligences of people, demanding compliance rather than nurturing inspiration.
I notice when they are allowed to engage in something that is personally meaningful to them, they come alive. And they can demonstrate intense brilliance.
What I argue for is the shift to the personal developmental level. We stop this obsessive need to compare people to each other. And we take people’s dreams seriously.
In a way, I’ve expanded intelligence, I think, beyond multiple intelligence where you have a couple intelligences. I actually believe there are an infinite amount of intelligences. And I think we should be open to that possibility, and constantly open to every person’s unique brand of intelligence.
via Why We Need to Redefine Intelligence - HBR IdeaCast - Harvard Business Review