Unlocking My Genius II

Each person has his or her own mix of types and skills. My "genius" rests in an unsual combination of the four types, as well as a mature development of the conceptualizer (see the previous essay for further descriptions). First, the types.

My "Type(s)"

I possess aspects of all four types, though my strongest is in the conceptualizer area. Yet, before going there, I want to linger on myself as visionary, executive director, worker. I learned fairly early in life that I could see things well before others did; I have since refined it into the "ten-year" rule--I often see signficant social trends about a decade before the society "catches up." Cases in point had to do with editorials I wrote in 1985 regarding Islam as the "big issue" for the future of the US and my 1999 argument regarding the way the death penalty debate would be reshaped in the ensuing decade (as it was) to emphasize the costs, rather than the morality, of the penalty. But when I think of my visionary capacity now, I think in terms of the one area I can contribute in a major way for the world's future--the arrangement, dissemination and quick learning of knowledge. I "see" the way that knowledge can be mastered in about 25% of the time it now takes. It is as clear to me as the computer screen in front of me. (Two essays describing this vision in more detail are here). I don't think I possess the interest/talents at this point to be able to bring others into the idea or raise the money necessary to do the job. Thus, I am a visionary, but one who (at present) has limitations in putting the vision into effect.

The "worker bee" part of me has been alive and well since I began to master the Bible at age 18. I used skills developed in that enterprise to learn to read closely, summarize well, explain clearly and make sure that an abundance of useful and colorful knowledge was always available to me. I deeply respect the talent of worker bees, and I feel I can demonstrate the patience, thoroughness and passion needed to be an excellent one. Though I spend a lot of time working in precise areas, I don't see myself primarily as a worker bee.

The "executive director" part of me has always been there and will be more in evidence, I think, as the conceptualizer, described below, develops. I had ambitions very early in life to become a college president or a minister of a huge church, both of which required executive director skills. That developed further in my mind, in my 20s, to include the directorship of influential non-profits. But it never "worked." I think the reasons for it are many, but one of them is that I needed to develop and find myself more fully in my "natural" type (the conceptualizer) before I could really unleash myself as visionary, executive director, worker bee. So, I am quite confident now that I could do and make happen a variety of executive director tasks, though I don't aspire to it.

The Conceptualizer

The reason I say that I am a conceptualizer in my essential identity (while possessing the others strongly, too) is that I have an array of things flowing out from the basic definition of the conceptualizer that make this skill rather rare and, I believe, valuable. Let me list them and then comment.

1. Basic to me as conceptualizer is the ability to imagine the full range of things needed to be done in a complex task, and then the ability to identify and work through the steps to get each one of those things accomplished. Even if I don't immediately imagine all the tasks (let us say I leave out one of twelve), I am very open to others' suggesting the twelfth task and, indeed, while I am presenting the other eleven, the twelfth will naturally come from the "group." As a conceptualizer, then, I find I need a group with whom to speak and work, so that the twelfth issue, so to speak, comes forward. That is, my ability to conceptualize has a stimulating effect on others so that they can "fill in the gaps" in what I have presented. This ability to see how things can and ought best to be done, identifying the various steps, and then being able to see, in detail, how each step had to be done, and by when it needs to be done, is, I have learned, a rare skill. I used to be amazed that people couldn't easily "see" all these steps, since it is so natural for me to do so.

An allied skill, which I have often used, is to look at a business or enterprise and be able to spot, almost immediately, a pronounced need the enterprise has. That is, I can very quickly conceptualize what the enterprise wants to accomplish and see, clearly, what it lacks in order to do that. In the past two years I often am brought into negotiations or tasks once the principals have either screwed them up or have made some unwise decisions; my task is to unravel them and then set them on a good course. I don't think I charge enough for this skill--

2. If that were all I did in the conceptualization field, I think it would be rare indeed. But, there is more. Once identifying the tasks needed to be done, I can take each one and not simply break it down into component parts, but then be able to construct, almost on the spot, each sentence of the document or each step of the task. For example, one of the things that needed to be done for one client was the rewriting of a multi-page document for their purposes. After asking many of the essential questions about audience, length, tone, etc., I said: well, it sounds like you need an eight-part document. Here are the parts--and I went on to write them down, allowing ample opportunity for discussion. After there was agreement, I went through all the parts to determine who we had to do which part. Some of the parts, for example, would focus more on collecting information (bios of Board members, for example), than on creative writing. Then, after this process, I determined that there was one area, crucial to the whole, where we didn't have the right person for the task--the actual writing of the text. So, instead of writing it, I worked with their best writer, and walked, sentence through sentence, of how the first two (of four parts) of the document should read; I told her to do the other parts herself, after giving her a three-point outline for each part.

3. This conceptualizing skill also has the component of precise, accurate, concise and vivid writing. That is, I not only can look at a huge task, identify all the parts, organize them, break them down into sub-parts, come up with the right sentences to express the ideas, but do so with accurate, precise and vivid language. Often, if I have a little time, I can make the language richly suggestive, pictorial and image-filled.

Conclusion

Now that I have discovered these things about myself, I am helped considerably because these skills are so strong in me that I don't need to "cultivate" them. They are just "there." Thus, I can spend the rest of my life doing what I love--developing knowledge, memorizing sacred texts in original languages, learning languages, writing essays and books, analyzing all manner of things, and expressing it well. In fact, as I think about it, the pure delight I take in writing about and learning things, from the most detailed explanation of a Chinese cheng yu to analyses of present-day events, probably helps me as a conceptualizer. Because I am so delighted and "charged" in what I do each day, I can easily focus on the ideas that seem to befuddle others and, often, help bring clarity.

Thus, my happy life...it has only taken me 59 years and 3 months to get there..

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