Applying Intellectual Diversity

We find human intellect fascinating, but what does someone do with it?

We've been exploring that question for years, and we've come up with a few places in our lives where it makes a difference.

Here is how we have found success applying intellectual diversity:

• The Intellect Scan measures 13 traits. You were born with these traits and they will not change.
• Your traits point to your personality's basic desire and behavioral markers. This takes us out of the scientific and gets us closer to understanding a person's essence. This helps us move beyond some of the resentment and miscommunication that undermines relationships.
• Your traits show your natural position on a business team. This is the work you most enjoy doing. When you are working here, you will be energized. Developing skills aligned with your natural position adds professional competence to your intuitive knack for doing what you were built to do.
• We avoid type-casting a person. Even though there is a natural position you plug into on a business team, you will play that position different than others. Your traits show us the intellectual diversity you bring to the work. In essence, there is an endless combination of people.

This approach helped us escape the typical way of looking at people. It changed the way we saw people and opened up conversations about our individualism that felt good.

Connected Relationships

Applying intellectual diversity here means understanding a person's emotional attachment style and their go-to emotions. We use these concepts to create emotional safety and this allows us to go deeper into the connected relationship. When we feel safe, we put down our guards. We love and feel loved.

Professional Pursuits

Applying intellectual diversity here means understanding a person's natural position and how they play that position. We take a side-by-side look at you and another person to see where you have common ground, where you bring diversity to the table, and develop strategies for you align your collaboration with your objectives.

Winning Teams

We see teams as a formalized group of people who are focused on a shared objective. Typical teams are 3-7 people. In larger organizations, we begin to see a team of teams.

Applying intellectual diversity here expands beyond the individual and looks at the people in context of the work. A team dashboard of traits is like a team fingerprint. We also draw circles around the work so that we can see what the team is doing and the individual roles people can play on the team.