My yard stick is ‘Knowledge speaks, wisdom listens’.

  • Smart people are great listeners.They try to understand your view point and DON’T judge you being intelligent or not!
  • Smart people are great learners.Their mindset is ‘what I can learn from this fellow’ and not ‘how I can prove my intelligence to him/her’. Let me give you a scenario which most of us can relate.
    • You friend telling you some thing about say ‘Taj mahal’. In your mind you are not listening to what he is saying or appreciating his knowledge or learning some thing new. You are thinking about the next line you are going to speak to match his level!. Yes we are driven by ego.We seek validation, compete in arguments and in group discussions.We never listen but only scan for points from whom we can form our next sentence!
  • Smart people can enjoy silence with you.They can sit with you with out saying any word and still you will feel comfortable.They are not is any race to compete for words or ‘event description’ speeches.

A Socrates sums it up

Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.

  • Intelligent people appreciate new ideas and don’t care whether it comes from a six year old or sixty year old.
  • They don’t need validation from their show off of knowledge and hence ear passionate listeners.They don’t think of next line while you speak but ponder on your content.This make them immensely good conversationalist.

With brilliant people you feel they are the best in this world.

With intelligent people you feel that YOU are the best in this world.

What’s the best way to increase productivity?