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
such a notion 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 to have ever
lived asked. This man was King Solomon
and he lamented that in his later years he
experienced the same fate as the fool. He
then questioned why he had the wisdom
in the first place. So I said in my heart,
“As it happens to the fool, It also happens
to me, And why was I then more wise?”
Ecclesiastes 2:15 (New King James Bible)
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
services are 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 stay
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
You are not intelligent today because you
were intelligent yesterday. You are intelli-
gent because your intelligence is solving a
problem. Your intelligence is relevant. Why
do we have very intelligent people who fiz-
zle out with their intelligence over time and
why on the other hand are there people
whose genius transcends generations? What
is the difference between the two?
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 looking
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
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 the 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 or 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 overflow every week. People
will go in their thousands and they will
give their money 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 these
churches therefore resonates with the
majority of the people in the developing
world.
Religion is one of the most powerful
driving forces on earth and many wars
have been fought because of religion. Few
things consume the thinking and persona
of people like religion does. There were
sects like the Pharisees and Sadducees
that were very prominent in the Bible
but they discovered that even religion is
not spared from the sweeping power of
irrelevance.
The way to deal with the threat of
irrelevance is not to attack the relevant
but to recreate yourself for relevance.
Again, remember it has to be intentional
for it to be exceptional. How then do you
recreate yourself for relevance? Get these
insights from the new book titled Beyond
Intelligence!
Dr. Akinyemi is the Chief
TransformationOfficer, PowerTalks
Corporate & Personal Development
Consultants. These are excerpts from
his new book ‘Beyond Intelligence:
The Simple Practice Of Staying
Relevant’. You can commune with
him on this or related matters via
email at: [email protected].