Steve Jobs believed from a very early stage in his role as a co-founder of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) that the smartest people excel at seeing patterns others miss, essentially connecting dots that lead to unique ideas.
Neuroscience Lends Support To Jobs' Pattern Theory
Modern neuroscience research published in the scientific journal Cortex partly supports that view, showing that the brains of intelligent people tend to work efficiently and briefly bulk up gray matter during learning and then normalize — evidence of fast, flexible wiring.
Steve Jobs' 1982 Speech Defines Intelligence As Connections
In June 1982, speaking to the Academy of Achievement, Jobs said intelligence is "the ability to zoom out… You can just see it all in front of you. You can see the whole thing. You can make connections that seem obvious because you can see the whole thing."
Jobs pressed the point with a prescription, adding, "If you're gonna make connections which are innovative… you have to not have the same bag of experiences as everyone else does." That variety, he argued, supplies raw material for originality.
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Broader Intelligences, Calligraphy And Lifelong Learning Lessons
Psychologists, meanwhile, describe intelligence as a multi-faceted trait with at least eight forms, from linguistic to spatial and interpersonal, as explained by American psychologist Howard Gardner. But the mix most aligned with Jobs' thesis pairs “crystallized intelligence” or the ability to accumulate knowledge, with “fluid intelligence,” which involves proficiency in learning and problem-solving in new situations.
But Jobs’ speech wasn’t just a theoretical mantra. He modeled the idea, too.
He famously took a calligraphy class after dropping out of Reed College, later crediting it for Apple's early typefaces on the Macintosh, highlighting a literal ‘this to that’ connection between liberal-arts craft and computer design.
Others in business offer similar counsel of exposing yourself to new ideas and the willingness to revise them. Jeff Bezos has famously said people who are "right a lot" change their minds, advice he's repeated while encouraging creative "wandering."
Warren Buffett and the late Charlie Munger framed it as becoming "learning machines," compounding knowledge through constant reading and multi-disciplinary thinking.
Photo Courtesy: Anton_Ivanov on Shutterstock.com
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