realize that normal is boring and that if
you are not living on the edge, you are
taking too much space!
The Value Of Intelligence Is
In Its Relevance
The Nature of Intelligence
Why do we have very intelligent people
who fizzle out with their intelligence
over time and on the other hand there
are people whose genius transcends
generations. What is the difference
between the two?
All things being equal you will discover
that the one word that aptly captures the
difference between these two is the word
relevance. The Oxford dictionary defines
relevance as the quality or state of being
closely connected or appropriate.
Being intelligent does not guarantee
relevance. This is one huge pitfall that a
lot of intelligent people fall into. They
are deceived into thinking that there is
a notion such as once intelligent, always
intelligent. That is a fallacy. What gives
intelligence value is relevance.
Many intelligent gifted people get to
a place in their lives where they ask the
question that the wisest man who ever
lived, King Solomon had to ask when
he lamented that in his later years he
experienced the same fate as the fool. He
then questioned why he ever had wisdom
in the first place.
A person who was very intelligent
and skilled at fixing typewriters in the
seventies and the eighties may still be
intelligent but because their intelligence
is not relevant it is useless. On the other
hand a person who may not be that
intelligent but whose service is relevant
will outshine an intelligent person who is
not relevant.
How relevant are you to your world today?
People do not get paid because they are
intelligent. They get paid because they
are relevant. Relevance is not a function
of how intelligent you are neither is it a
function of size or present day success.
It is not a function of how deep your
pockets are today. It is a function of how
innovative you are and how well you
are able to read the future and use your
innovation to capture the future.
Value never follows the irrelevant. You
need to be concerned about the shelf life
of your current model or way of thinking.
The more relevant you are, the more value
you add. The key to sustained relevance is
re-creation.
If you do not understand the time in
which we live, you will miss out on the
opportunity of the time. If you try to
carry forward the past into the present,
you will miss out on the present and
absolutely lose the future. Making the
adjustments to be relevant is by no means
an easy task. It has to be intentional for it
to be exceptional.
A lot of leaders who are not able to read
the times will find themselves frozen in
the past. When I was younger the fashion
was to wear very baggy trousers, to have
an afro and to leave the shirt unbuttoned.
Today if I show up somewhere like that,
they will probably call for an ambulance.
People have defined insanity as doing
the same thing over and over again and
expecting different results but I want to
Only those who question the present and see
themselves as contributors to the future can
develop solutions for the future. You may be
intelligent and you may ask the right questions
but as long as it is not settled in you that you are
part of the solution you will have a passive atti-
tude and once you arrive at this point of passiv-
ity your irrelevance in the future is guaranteed.
24 MAL27/18 ISSUE
put a twist to that definition. Insanity
is bringing the intelligence of the past
into the present and expecting it to
work without making any adjustments.
Intelligence is not to be confused with
wisdom which is the correct or the relevant
application of knowledge.
The continued success of an entity is
determined by how connected or useful
it is in the context of its environment.
Success is the reward for relevance. This
is true across board. When something is
relevant, it resonates. To resonate means
that it evokes images, memories, and
emotions.
When you are relevant, you will resonate
with people. The more people you resonate
with, the more relevant you are and the
more relevant you are the more successful
you will be. Europe had some of the
grandest cathedrals in the world.
They spent millions in building these
architectural wonders over years. However
many of these cathedrals were converted
to shopping centers, apartments and even
mosques. Why did this happen? Once
the message from the pulpit stopped
resonating, relevance was lost and once
relevance was lost patronage declined.
On the other hand we have huge churches
in Africa that will overflow not only on
Sundays but practically every day of the
week. People will go in their thousands
and they will give in the millions. Many
intelligent people have never understood
the logic behind a poor person going into
church and giving what he has to a church
that is obviously wealthy. The answer is in
relevance.
The message that God will make your life
better does not resonate with a society
where the government has made their lives
better.
It however resonates with a society that is
poverty stricken and where the majority
cannot see the light at the end of the
tunnel. The message of the new church
therefore resonates with the majority of
the people in the developing world.
The way to deal with the threat of
irrelevance is not to attack the relevant but
to re-create yourself for relevance. Again,
remember it has to be intentional for it to
be exceptional. How then do you re-create