curious people

I am not embarrassed by what I do not know. The word "why" is never too far from my mouth. I can't objectively gauge my own intelligence, and because intelligence itself is relative, I will spend less time describing myself and more time describing what it feels like to work with people I consider intelligent.

My definition of an intelligent person is someone who asks questions, updates their understanding, articulates responses in a way they are comfortable with, and remains conscious of the message they are conveying. I started working with a new group of people recently, and this has been my everyday reality. I experienced a dynamic I didn't know existed. In our conversations, it doesn't feel like I have to explain my rationale. My thoughts feel like an extension of theirs; they just get it.

When you have that kind of synergy, you have more time to actually execute and achieve things together, and it never feels like strain. If I called any of them intelligent, there’s a good chance that they will wave it off. None of them think of themselves that way. Everything I listed earlier (the questions, updating understanding, the way they hold the thread of a conversation) comes from one place, and it is not the wish to seem intelligent. It is that they wanted to know, they are curious. Intelligence is only my word for what that produces.