Who's the Genius in Our Midst That We're Not Listening To? - Tom Denari
Tom Denari via Advertising Age
Geniuses make themselves evident by having ideas bigger than we can conceive; it seems that they can see the future. Their thinking is highly disciplined, even though their behavior might not be. They appear fearless.
Why don’t we listen?
First, geniuses can be annoying, as pragmatism is not their strong suit. They don’t live in the same reality as the rest of us and aren’t typically bound by the same time and space constrictions. Their pushing and stretching of our belief system can be emotionally draining. Instead of listening, we accuse them of not being aware of current reality. We tell them that they don’t “get it.”
Second, geniuses are hard to keep up with because — while we don’t like to admit it — their vision is often well beyond our own capacity. They make us uncomfortable, because we just don’t see the world the way they do. We respond by becoming defensive and frustrated. We dismiss them as being irrational, frivolous or self-indulgent.
Finally, geniuses get cranky — sometimes even belligerent — when we try to alter their ideas. They have little use for social niceties or making changes for political expediency. Geniuses will say “no” to many of your requests, believing that any impurities will simply dull an idea, forcing it toward mediocrity. To defend our position, we put them off saying, “Let’s test it.”
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