At the end of the Workshop on "Innovation and Financial Intelligence" held last week, several participants approached who required to go into greater depth on the topic of "Intelligence" and how they relate to success in life.
Some attendees already familiar with the different types of intelligence (Robert Sternberg, Howard Gardner, Tony Buzan, Stephen Covey) and also with the work of Robert Kiyosaki (“Rich Dad or Poor Dad”) wanted to inquire about the practical applications of these frameworks. conceptual.
All these restless and curious participants were businessmen and wanted to explore how to “bring these concepts down” with the least possible risk of loss. Some of them asked to learn in themselves, while others were oriented towards learning that would help them guide their children in an enterprise.
Many professionals in Latin America show a high preference to join multinational corporations over national companies.
However, in recent years - and especially during the financial and technological globalization phase that has taken place in the different Latin American countries - the careers of these professionals within large organizations have been noticeably shortened and in many cases it has also been discontinued forever.
In the book by Eric Gaynor Butterfield (“Executive Development and Organizational Development”; The Organization Development Institute International, Latinamerica -2005) it is shown how young, capable, intelligent and highly motivated executives committed to their company, are expelled (or self- expelled) from it. And in many cases they do not reinsert themselves into the organizational world.
Robert Kiyosaki has proposed an option for these executives, professionals, managers and company directors, which involves moving from the employee or self-employed phase to that of the owner of their company. However, the facts show that these professionals and executives who operate with a certain degree of effectiveness and efficiency have serious difficulties in becoming owners and owners of a company in their capacity as founding partners. Furthermore, Eric Gaynor Butterfield (Problems of transition from the professional to your company) points out that it is sometimes more difficult to transform these executives who have graduated from very good universities into entrepreneurs than those who have only completed their secondary studies.
Is this possible? And what do we owe this for? These are extremely important questions that we ask ourselves, even though we do not have a single best answer. Kiyosaki highlights that there are a significant number of capacities and attributes that are required to establish themselves as owners of their own company, but few have managed to develop a scheme or a conceptual framework that serves as an answer.
Together with Lic. Abel Cortese, Eric Gaynor Butterfield has been working on "The Intelligences" focusing on "The 7 Intelligences". What is interesting about this proposal of these two researchers is that it presents a model that is similar to the proposal that Abraham Maslow has made regarding the “needs” (growing) of human beings. Cortese and Gaynor suggest that there are three main levels and that the first two each include three different intelligences.
The first level corresponds to "Personal Intelligences" that are related to:
1. Cognitive Intelligence;
2. Emotional Intelligence;
3. Creative Intelligence.
The authors call this first group under the name of "Personal Intelligences" since they are very strongly linked to the same person.
On the other hand, there is a second group of "Interaction Intelligences" that have to do with how a person links up with third parties and that goes beyond creativity or the emergence of ideas. I am referring to Innovation, which is the implementation of creative ideas. Within this second group of "Interaction Intelligences" we find the following Intelligences:
1. Practical Intelligence;
2. Business Intelligence;
3. Financial Intelligence.
And the highest level that can be reached is linked to what the authors call "Organizational Intelligence", being the third level and that goes beyond the second level mentioned above. Organizations of the caliber of General Motors Corporation, Ford Motor Company, Federal Express, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Mercedes Benz, Boeing, McDonald's would not have been possible if the founders - promoters - promoters had not made use of the "Organizational Intelligence ”.
And here we already begin to approach an answer in relation to the question that we have asked earlier, and that Robert Kiyosaki in his excellent work does not manage to fully elucidate. Professionals and executives within the corporate world excel in Personal Intelligence, and it is based on them that they achieve their insertion into the corporate world.
Some of them show off the Interaction Intelligences that correspond to the second level and stand out within the corporate world. However, when they no longer belong to the staff of the organizational world, they have greater difficulties in creating a company and being its founding partner.
What happens is that the Practical, Commercial and Financial Intelligence that is required within the corporate world is insufficient for the owner or owner of his own company.
Within the corporate world, there is the ability to "refer" to others by specialty, whereby the problem is transferred to another organizational participant.
On the other hand, the owner or entrepreneur has to fully absorb the responsibilities of his decisions and the implications of them have a direct impact on his pocket. And these experiences and experiences are not taught or transferred from the best universities on the planet.
Not to mention Organizational Intelligence, which represents the last and greatest dimension. As an illustration we can highlight a famous speech made by Larry Ellison as President of Oracle Corporation when he was invited to give a speech to the graduates. His text is reproduced below: “Graduation speech by Larry Ellison (ORACLEO CEO). I Thought you would get a kick out of this speech that Larry Ellison (Oracle CEO) gave at Yale University to the Graduating class of 2000. What follows is a transcript of the speech delivered by Ellison at Yale University last month:
«Graduates of Yale University, I apologize if you have endured this type of prologue before, but I want you to do something for me. Please, take a good look around you. Look at the classmate on your left. Look at the classmate on your right. Now, consider this: five years from now, 10 years from now, even 30 thirty years from now, odds are the person on your left is going to be a loser. The person on your right, meanwhile, will also be a loser. And you, in the middle? What can you expect? Loser. Loserhood. Loser Cum Laude.
In fact, as I look out before me today, I don't see a thousand hopes for a bright tomorrow. I don't see a thousand future leaders in a thousand industries. I see a thousand losers. You're upset. That's understandable.
After all, how can I, Lawrence «Larry» Ellison, college dropout, have the audacity to spout such heresy to the graduating class of one of the nation's most prestigious institutions? I'll tell you why. Because I, Lawrence "Larry" Ellison, second richest man on the planet, am a college dropout, and you are not.
Because Bill Gates, richest man on the planet-for now anyway-is a college dropout, and you are not. Because Paul Allen, the third richest man on the planet, dropped out of college, and you did not. And for good measure, because Michael Dell, No. 9 on the list and moving up fast, is a college dropout, and you, yet again, are not.
Hmm… you're very upset. That's understandable. So let me stroke your egos for a moment by pointing out, quite sincerely, that your diplomas were not attained in vain. Most of you, I imagine, have spent four to five years here, and in many ways what you've learned and endured will serve you well in the years ahead. You've established good work habits. You've established a network of people that will help you down the road. And you've established what will be lifelong relationships with the word "therapy." All that of is good. For in truth, you will need that network. You will need those strong work habits.
You will need that therapy. You will need them because you didn't drop out, and so you will never be among the richest people in the world. Oh sure, you may, perhaps, work your way up to # 10 or # 11, like Steve Ballmer. But then, I don't have to tell you who he really works for, do I? And for the record, I have dropped out of grad school. Bit of a late bloomer.
Finally, I realize that many of you, and hopefully by now most of you, are wondering, «Is there anything I can do? Is there any hope for me at all? » Actually, no. It's too late. You've absorbed too much, think you know too much. You're not 19 anymore. You have a built-in cap, and I'm not referring to the mortarboards on your heads. Hmm… you're really very upset. That's understandable.
So perhaps this would be a good time to bring up the silver lining. Not for you, Class of '00. You are a write-off, so I'll let you slink off to your pathetic $ 200,000-a-year jobs, where your checks will be signed by former classmates who dropped out two years ago.
Instead, I want to give hope to any underclassmen here today. I say to you, and I can't stress this enough: LEAVE. Pack your things and your ideas and don't come back. Drop out. Start up. For I can tell you that a cap and gown will keep you down just as surely as these security guards dragging me off this stage are keeping me down… »
(At this point The Oracle CEO was ushered off stage.)
Larry Ellison's words sound really harsh and probably in many cases perhaps not valid. But in any case, it is a statement that adds clarity to elucidate why it is that successful professionals and managers within the corporate world cannot become successful as owners of their own company. That is, they do not successfully transition from the first or second instance (employee or self-employed) to that of the owner of their business.
It is a strong impact for everyone, even for you, who are overwhelmingly entrepreneurs but who have in any case prioritized their own children in choosing a career within the multinational corporate world. We have a short dynamic that we would like to carry out in the second half of this short Conference; I think it is a valid experiential experience that can add a little more light regarding what we must learn and also do to be able to mobilize ourselves towards the role of entrepreneurs. We have come closer on the way to an answer to the dilemma that we initially posed but now a new concern arises: How is it possible that entrepreneurs - without "formal" studies regarding "Intelligences" - have been able to develop companies anyway? ?
Enjoy the short break and see you in 10 minutes.
Thank you very much for participating and accepting challenges!
