Rethinking Intelligence Before We Fake It
As AI becomes more capable and culturally normed, your greatest competitive advantage may lie in the style of intelligence and uniquely human experiences you choose to develop.
Photo credit Matthew Kurkjian
🌐 Research in Practice: What the Experts Are Doing
For over a century, intelligence has been narrowly defined through IQ scores and standardized testing. Psychologist Dr. Phillip Ackerman challenges this view. In his article in American Psychologist, he critiques the traditional "lowest common denominator" approach to intelligence measurement, which emphasizes generalized, child-focused tests and overlooks the complex knowledge and skills that adults actually acquire through experience and use (Ackerman, 2024). Instead, Dr. Ackerman proposes a broader definition, one that emphasizes tacit knowledge and accounts for lifelong learning. This perspective reframes intelligence as a dynamic repertoire of behaviors and experiences that develops through life.
To this point, I worked with high school students and used a framework of multiple intelligences to help each of them recognize their high potential career strengths- something we all felt intuitively, but their grades often did not reflect. Unsurprisingly, the notion that a single sense of intelligence, such as IQ, serves as a catch-all for measuring intellectual capability has been challenged for decades. One example, Dr. Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences – the framework I used with students – offers an expanded view arguing that human ability is far more diverse than what standard tests capture (Gardner, 1983). Within this framework of multiple intelligences, expanding our capacity to define the human-centered contributions of intelligence, such as emotional intelligence, can offer increased value differentiation in the labor market as non-human-centric elements are outsourced to AI (e.g., quantitative analysis).
As more organizations shift to skills-based hiring (e.g., hiring someone who’s done what you want to do), intelligence is increasingly defined by demonstrated capability. In this context, professional specializations begin to develop distinct forms of intelligence tailored to specific applications. Emotional Intelligence (EQ), popularized by Dr. Daniel Goleman (1995), emphasizes the ability to manage relationships, which is crucial to leadership and effective performance management, but is not essential to the success of all roles. Consider Christian Bale’s portrayal of Dr. Michael Burry in The Big Short (2015): a brilliant, data-driven and heavy-metal-influenced investor whose genius had little to do with interpersonal finesse - in fact, people hated him, but he delivered on the style of intelligence asked of him (which was definitely not EQ). Success depends on context, as does the applicability of intelligence.
Your edge is your intelligence, specifically, your style of intelligence. As AI systems expand globally, your relevance in the labor market increasingly depends on the intelligence you cultivate within yourself and the context you expose yourself to.
⚓ Anchored in Action: Quick Tips
Choose one form of intelligence you rely on most in your work (i.e., emotional, cultural, analytical, creative) and identify one way to strengthen it this month, weekly, like it’s a muscle. Be intentional and repetitive, practice and repeat. Keep this activity and your experience of it over time as a suggestion and anecdote for colleagues in the future.
📚 References / Suggested Reading
Ackerman, P. L. (2023). Intelligence: Moving beyond the lowest common denominator. American Psychologist, 78(3), 283–297. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0001057
Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. Basic Books.
Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. Bantam Books.
