Sand bucket on the beach of Punta del Este, Uruguay. David http://www.flickr.com/people/99255685@N00 (CC BY 2.0)

Top Two Features of Real Genius (it’s not giant popcorn bombs…)

Forrest ChristianKnowledge, Learning, Underachievers 1 Comment

What makes up a Genius? Most of us in North America imagine the “geniuses” who come up with great new ideas as people who seem to have everything lined up, who don’t need anyone else because it’s their singular genius that makes the day. True brilliance shows in people who get everything done the right way, quickly and efficiently. They …

New York-to-Paris automobile race: [Automobile stuck in snow]

Top Reasons Why Your Resume Says “Career stalled”

Forrest ChristianCoaching, Underachievers 7 Comments

Have you ever considered that your career path is a lot like a movie? Film scholar Chris Simmons, a colleague of mine, lectured once on the massive blockbuster, Titanic. He showed how everything in its visual language spoonfed what the director wanted you to see, know and feel. The director made deliberate choices to make it easy for us as …

Confusion in Bix. Splash page from "Heavens to Betsy", -Club "16" Comics-, Issue 1, page 1

Being a Jerk Can Get You That Promotion

Forrest ChristianUnderachievers Leave a Comment

Experts like software developers, attorneys and even regular folks who do actual work are all too often led astray by the belief that working hard and being the best will somehow lead to the top. This belief is perpetuated by the powerful and their ilk because it’s not exactly true. New research by Joey T. Cheng and Jessica L. Tracy, …

Man sits apart. By Mead Schaeffer, c. 1933. Good Housekeeping magazine?

Why You High Potentials Don’t Get “Tapped” in Your 20s

Forrest ChristianCareers, Underachievers 1 Comment

I’ve written before about the importance of being “tapped” for bigger and better things when you are in your 20s if you are a very high potential on the Jaques scale. During my research for a recent project on intelligence testing, I discovered that Gillian Stamp, the bioss founder (and ex-BIOSS and London School of Economics professor), said something along …

Belgian royal conservatory's dome, interior with sun. (c) E. Forrest Christian

Does Fluid Intelligence / IQ Matter?

Forrest ChristianOverachievers, Underachievers 6 Comments

(This continues our discussion about intelligence / IQ testing. Read part 1, Intelligence Testing & IQ: What it is, isn’t.) The big issue with intelligence tests is this general mental ability (GMA or g) that they measure. This is mostly “fluid intelligence”. It means how quickly you can solve a unique problem. You would think that it would correlate with …

Mary McQueen on Dragon’s Den: 2HiPo on National TV

Forrest Christianhappiness, Underachievers Leave a Comment

Did you know that one of my raving fans and frequent commenters, Mary McQueen, appeared on the CBC show, Dragons’ Den? It’s like the American Shark Tank, where entrepreneurs make a pitch before a team of investors trying to get money. Mary pitched her brilliant Hand & Beak business: she makes greeting cards with her lovebird partner, Luigi. No, he’s …

Conductor checks his watch to find out how much time remains at the Bloomington, Illinois, stop on the Turboliner run between St. Louis, Missouri, and Chicago. Photo by Charles O'Rear for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1970). (NARA record: 3403717)

Have You Stayed Too Long?

Forrest ChristianCareers, Underachievers Leave a Comment

Why won’t they ever leave?! You know the person I’m talking about. The one in your crew who comes to the party and then doesn’t leave. You drop hints, even change into your pyjamas, but the only way to “the party’s over” through their thick skull is to physically shoo them out the door. There’s very little more aggravating than …

Oxygen helmets in mine rescues

Why Being Really High Potential Is Bad For Your Life

Forrest ChristianUnderachievers 7 Comments

Back in 2008, I wrote an “anonymized” story about meeting up with a very high potential and our conversation. Although I wrote it a long time ago, it recently had two interesting comments from Alex and Ken Shepard. Alex I don’t know but Ken is the leader of the GO Society and has been a long-time proponent in my life. …

Man raising his eyebrow. ? 2008 Lee J Haywood. Via Flickr. (CC BY-SA 2.0)

You Change Your Mind – And That’s Not Normal

Forrest ChristianOverachievers, Underachievers 1 Comment

If you’re old enough to bother reading this, you likely can look over your life and see the points at which you have changed your mind. Or finessed one of your pet theories of life. To you this seems like a normal process, one that comes with aging and growing. It’s not. You’re weird. And it makes people see you …

Volunteer Jennifer Van Vleet experiences what it would be like to be arrested after failing a field sobriety test. (2009) Orgeon Dept. of Transportation. (CC BY 2.0)

How Simply Being BIgger (like a Hidden High Potential) Gets You Arrested

Forrest ChristianCoaching, Underachievers 4 Comments

When you are bigger than everyone else, you are much more likely to get hammered for irritating people. It doesn’t matter if that’s physical size or “work” size, where you have the capability to do a larger job than the people around you. This is one of the key problems of Hidden High Potentials (HHPs). Work comes in different sizes, …