Horizon Point Consulting

Author: Mary Ila Ward

  • What Kind of Intelligent Are You?

    What Kind of Intelligent Are You?

    Did you like school growing up? Were you one of the “smart” kids or did you just get by? Were you bored in the classroom or excited to be there?

    How about at work? Are you one of the “smart” ones? 

    When you are training or in a learning setting on the job, do you pick up on concepts quickly or do you find yourself being one of the “slow” ones?  Does the learning engage your attention or leave you questioning why you are doing what you are doing? 

    Whatever category you fall into, I’d challenge you-and maybe more importantly, those teaching and leading- to think about the source of the ease or difficulty.  This may have more to do with how things are being taught and whether they cater to specific types of intelligences rather than whether or not people are “smart”. 

    And in most formal learning environments, we tend to only cater to two of the nine intelligences postulated by Harvard Professor Howard Gardner- linguistic intelligence and logical-mathematical intelligence.  Gardner says of these intelligences, they are “particularly important for learning in the kinds of schools that we have today- ones that feature listening to lectures, reading, writing, and calculating- and they are crucial on those tests that purport to assess human intellect and cognitive potential.” 

    But Gardner says we get it all wrong if we stop here.  Other intelligences that Gardner suggests from his research are: 

    “Noncanonical” Intelligences: 

    • Musical Intelligence: “Facility in the perception and production of music.” 
    • Spatial Intelligence: “The capacity to form spatial representations or images in one’s mind, and to operate upon them variously.”
    • Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence: “The capacity to solve problems or create products using your whole body, or parts of your body like your hand or your mouth.” 
    • Naturalist Intelligence: “Entails the capacities to make consequential discriminations in the natural world.” 

    Personal Intelligences: “Knowing Human Beings”

    • Knowing Oneself: Self-Awareness
    • Knowing Others

    Existential Intelligence: “Religious” or “Spiritual” intelligence

    I’d venture to guess that as you read this list, there are one or more where you feel like you excel.  Is it recognized in your workplace?  Does learning content cater to your style? 

    If you are a leader or trainer/facilitator, I’d encourage you to examine your learning opportunities at work to see if you are reaching everyone in your audience with their particular intelligence so you can capitalize on all people’s “smarts”. 

    Some ideas for doing so: 

    • Incorporate games and puzzles 
    • Incorporate music 
    • Incorporate outdoor activity and/or break up content where breaks in learning require participants to move around and go outside if possible
    • Provide things to “fidget” with
    • Get people to draw in order to convey thoughts and learning- to visualize concepts
    • Have people interact with others regularly- through questions, role play, case studies, etc.
    • Provide questions for self-reflection and thought and the time to do this
    • Get people to teach what they have learned to others- creating and incorporating their own ideas for conveying concepts
    • Give tools for people to practice and apply learning on the job and record and report their findings in the format or mode they prefer

    When we begin to realize that all people are “smart”, we can then use that information to make sure we are incorporating a variety of ways to make sure our workplaces allow for the expression of each individual’s unique talents and contributions. 

    What kind of intelligent are you? 

  • 3 Steps for Leading through Pressure & Change

    3 Steps for Leading through Pressure & Change

    Coal can’t be transformed into a diamond and a pearl can’t become a pearl without pressure and change.  We know that beauty is created through times of pressure and change. For leaders, it is often where the most growth and learning takes place. However, more often than not, it is less than enjoyable.  It is stressful. It is hard.  And this can keep us from learning and growing amidst the difficulty if we don’t know how to effectively handle it. 

    And if we are honest, in the world of leading and living today, when is there ever time that is not seeped with some level of pressure and change? So how do we navigate it?  How do we see beauty in both the process and the outcomes and navigate the stress and difficulty with a sense of purpose and energy? 

    A book and a podcast I’ve engaged with recently, have helped provide some key insights into this: 

    1. Know your default.  If you’ve heard us say at once at Horizon Point, you’ve heard it a million times: strong leadership is always built with a strong foundation of self-awareness.  When it comes to pressure and changing situations, is it your default to turn inward or outward? Do you tend to focus on what you need and keep it in, or do you focus on whatever everyone else needs trying to please people to respond? Knowing your natural inclination will be the first step in helping you better navigate the pressure and change. 

    2. Question yourself and the situation. In the Making It Work Podcast Episode 59- Staying Composed Under Pressure, Dr. Rob McKenna encourages asking these (among other) questions of yourself:  

    • Why are you leading this situation? Another way to ask this is, “Why are you here for these people?” According to the research by Dr. McKenna, a sense of purpose was the number one indicator of ability to successfully lead under pressure.  If you know your purpose, you are able to appreciate the stakes that make a difference.  
    • If this goes well, what is the positive potential that will open up? The second best indicator of leading well under pressure was the leader’s ability to focus on the potential.  It’s not optimism or pessimism, it’s “I have a half full glass full of water, what could I do with that?” It causes centering for the leader. The research showed that it helped moderate success especially in leaders who tend to take things personally. And their research showed that most leaders do take things personally. 

    What is your PURPOSE and what is the POTENTIAL? You will most likely have to return to these questions and the answers to them often, especially in extreme times of pressure and change. 

    3. Share the story.  In Changing Minds by Howard Gardner, a theme around changing minds- especially in what the author defines as a heterogeneous group- is the leader’s ability to 1) be who they say they are or “practice what they preach” and 2) narrate, or put into story form, purpose and potential. This then translates to purpose and potential for others.  And purpose and potential combined lead to action.  

    When we know ourselves, ground ourselves in purpose and potential and then share this through authentic stories, we are better able to lead ourselves and others through challenging times of pressure and change. 

    What helps you to lead well in pressure and change? 

  • 4 Lessons in Personality from Hamilton

    4 Lessons in Personality from Hamilton

    Because we like to give experiences instead of stuff at our house, our daughter’s Christmas present was a trip to see Hamilton.  She loves the music and was so excited about her first big girl trip to the theater. 

    The first time I saw Hamilton was on Broadway, a week before the whole world shut down because of the pandemic.  I was not familiar with the storyline or the music then, so I was in overdrive trying to process all that I saw and heard.  I’m still in overdrive trying to process all I’ve seen and heard since then and learn from it. 

    Three years and a pandemic later, my second experience was seeped with thoughts and learning I, personally, gained throughout the pandemic as well as what the first show had taught me to be prepared to take away. 

    What I found most striking this time around was the contrast between Hamilton and Burr and the build up to the ultimate duel and death of Hamilton. It is a classic study in personality science. 

    Here’s what I took away: 

    1. “He has nothing to prove, he has nothing to lose.” vs “a legacy to protect”.  These lyrics help us understand that when it comes to personality, our forefathers and their situations actually shape how we behave.  In fact, the situations may actually affect the genes that are passed down as seen in some new genomic science you can read about in Super Genes.  Hamilton and Burr were both orphans, but in very different contexts.  Burr came from a good family, Hamilton came from nothing.  This impacted how they saw the world and what behaviors they exhibited.

    How has your background, in which you had no choice in the matter about, shaped your personality?

    2. “You never back down, you never learn to take your time” vs “wait for it”.  The main way you see the contrast between Hamilton and Burr- that is at least in part due to the situations they were born into- is in the contrast between two personality poles- fast paced and outspoken versus cautious and reflective. 

    The DiSC Model illustrates these poles.  The model emphasizes how our natural inclinations towards one of the extremes can create a variety of conflict between individuals if they are seen as opposing approaches that become right or wrong.  This view can lead to villainization as opposed to the view that opposites attract and complement one another.  When people also retreat to the extremes, instead of being able to self-monitor on what behaviors are best served given the situation and the people, major conflict erupts. In Hamilton and Burr’s case, it festered for years, and then it led to death.   

    Do you allow people’s differences to polarize or complement? 

    3. “It’s Quiet Uptown.” The common consensus in personality science is that personality is usually solidified around the age of 25.  Your nature and your nurture pretty much combine and by 25 and your personality becomes more of a set rather than fluid state.  

    However, key life events, usually in the form of major changes and tragedy, can shift our personality.  This is no better seen in the song “It’s Quiet Uptown”. This song illustrates how, following Hamilton’s infidelity and the death of his son, he moved his family uptown and found solitude in what was quite contrary to his “you never back down, you never learn to take your time” personality into a slower paced, quiet life.  The key events altered his personality, or at least for a time, the way his personality manifested itself in the form of his behaviors. 

    Have you experienced life altering events that have altered your personality and behavior? 

    4. “The world is wide enough.”  After Burr shoots Hamilton,  his monologue makes such a climactic point.  He realizes the world was wide enough for both he and Hamilton to exist, thrive in fact, but it’s too late.  What would the world have been if Burr and Hamilton had worked together, seeing their opposing personalities and  perspectives as an asset instead of a liability? 

    What would the world look like if you joined forces with your “foe” and used his or her differences to help shape a partnership of impact? 

    What would things look like if we could see the future instead of reflect on it?  No one knows “who lives, who dies, who tells your story,” but if we can learn about how our situations, experiences, and personalities shape us and those around us, maybe we can at least “stay alive” to write a better history where people work together instead of tearing each other apart. 

  • Our 2023 Theme: An Abundance of Space

    Our 2023 Theme: An Abundance of Space

    “I’m learning that I deserve to take up space,” said one team member at our yearly planning meeting. 

    “There’s an abundance of it,” said another in keeping with something each of us found ourselves recognizing- the contrast between abundance and scarcity mindset– in 2022. 

    “I find that when I give permission to take up space, I’m better at making space and giving space to others,” said yet another member of the team. 

    And later when a meeting notice went out to the whole team at a time that wasn’t the best for one team member, our discussion had given her the permission to say, “I’m going to take up space here, and say this doesn’t work best for me,” then she suggested another time where she knew she and the rest of our team would be best to work together on the subject of the meeting.   She knew herself and all of us well enough to know that a Thursday morning would be much better than a Friday afternoon for all of us to think creatively. 

    As we thought about what our theme would be for 2023, we realized the continuity of a word that kept coming up last year, “abundance” and a new one that seemed to be surfacing this year, of “space”.    

    And I found nothing better that illustrates what we mean by this than the poem “Our Deepest Fear” by Marianne Williamson that is reflected so well in the movie Coach Carter. 

    I hope you’ll take a minute to watch it.  It explains what we mean by this year’s theme so much better than I can. We at Horizon Point hope that this year you will take up space and share space with others, because there is an abundance of it. 

    Our Deepest Fear
    By Marianne Williamson

    “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
    Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
    It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
    We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’
    Actually, who are you not to be?
    You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.
    There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking, so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
    We are all meant to shine, as children do.
    We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
    It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.
    And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
    As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

  • 4 Things my Goals Taught me in 2022 about how to be Brave in 2023

    4 Things my Goals Taught me in 2022 about how to be Brave in 2023

    “I never tied discipline to courage. I never saw the correlation. I guess I should have, since I lack in both. But in all matters- physical, mental, and spiritual- I believe that to live a disciplined life leads to a brave life. We long to be brave in the big moments, in the clutch times, in the times when our backs are up against a wall. But to get there? It’s the everyday. It’s the practice. It’s the steps. It’s the discipline. 

    Annie Downs- Let’s All Be Brave

    I set goals every year.  Do you? You can call them New Year’s resolutions, but I like to call them goals. 

    I had five, well four and a half really, in 2022. The 1.5 was a business goal we set every year- gross revenue and profit margin targets.  We hit the profit margin and missed on the gross revenue. I set out to PR in a half-marathon and missed it by about 9 minutes, but I was somewhat happy with my performance given I had the flu a week before I ran it.  One was a writing goal that I fell short on.  And the last one was to read 52 books- averaging one a week- for the year. 

    I set two new process, or habit goals to get me on the right path of reaching these. One centered around how to start a consistent morning routine.  This routine wasn’t perfect, but it helped me read 53 books this year- the one goal I made. I formed a new habit there and it steered success. 

    So what have I learned from the misses and makes in 2022 to tee up 2023?  Here they are: 

    1) One a day.  You can see several trends from the picture of the list of 53 books I read in 2022, but I’ll point you to just one thing.On the last day of the year, my 53rd book listed is the Bible. I did not read it all on December 31st (in fact, I didn’t read anything on the list in just one day). I used an app called Bible In One Year to guide me through reading the entire book over the course of the year.  It took about 15-20 minutes every morning every day. Yes, I missed a morning or two here and there, but never got behind enough to need to do more than two days of reading in one day.  I hit this goal because I did one thing once a day every day of the year.  It got to the point where if I didn’t do this pretty much first thing every morning something felt immediately off for the rest of the day.  It became like going through the day without brushing my teeth.  I felt weird and kind of gross.

    And as it turns out that I’m learning from the first book I’ll most likely finish in 2023, Super Genes, our habits of wellness not only help us achieve our goals, they also can shape and reshape our genes. I’ve always believed that the behaviors I model will shape my kids, but science is also informing the fact that the behaviors we commit to not only can alter our own genes, they also very much shape the genes that we will pass on to future generations. Fascinating stuff! 

    2) Quit.  I hit the reading goal as well because I did something I’ve never done before. I quit reading three books I started. One wasn’t what I thought it was going to be, one was written terribly, and one I just totally disagreed with. Wired to power through to the bitter end on everything whether pleasant or not, I realized life is too short to read bad books. They will make you miss your goals and that isn’t worth it. It also isn’t worth it because it violates my next point. 

    3) Enjoy it. I love to read. And the outcome of my reading also informs a lot of the work I do.  If you aren’t enjoying at least some of what you’re striving towards, why are you doing it? Sometimes enjoyment comes in the process of doing something and sometimes it comes in the outcome, and hopefully in both, but if you can’t be clear about why you are doing something and how it is going to contribute to your overall wellbeing, in my opinion, it isn’t worth doing. Goals are really hard to achieve when you’re miserable trying to achieve them. You won’t stay the course. 

    4) Just because the calendar rolls over doesn’t mean we should stop striving towards the same things.  My hits and misses have taught me that the “rhythm” as Annie Down’s calls it is what I need to focus on.  Call it courageous or call it discipline like she also calls it, but I’ll be leaning into the word “brave.”  I think she does too given the title of her book.  I need to be brave in my habits by committing to them fully.  Everyday. Then, most likely, the outcomes will happen. I need to realize when these commitments aren’t serving me and those around me well to either quit or pivot.  And I need to always focus on enjoying both the journey and the outcomes it leads to.  My goals for 2023 won’t change much from the goals of 2022.  Instead, I’ll keep striving for the things that are always important to me, my family, and my team by being brave in the everyday. 

    What did you learn in 2022 that will shape you for 2023? 

    Like this post?  You may also like: 

    4 Steps to Fanatic Leadership Discipline

    Out of the 53 Books I read this year, here are my top three must reads: 

      1. Bittersweet by Susan Cain because it echoed and solidified my thoughts on living in the AND so well.
      2. Run Rose Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson because it so enjoyable- see #3 above. 
      3. Misreading Scripture through Western Eyes by Brandon J. O’Brien and E. Randolph Richards because it made me reexamine some of my thinking.