It has been 23 years since Harvard pscyhologist Howard Gardner published his groundbreaking book "Frames of Mind."  Last month, I blogged about the four quadrants of personality styles, and I think the Gardner's "Theory of Multiple Intelligences" is another paradigm worth understanding.  Its teachings can help the various teams of an organization work together more effectively.  Teaching credential programs around the world have been educating future teachers on Multiple Intelligences for many years, but the concept has not become mainstream in the business world.

Gardner has devoted the majority of the past three decades to the study of societal definitions of "intelligence."  This is probably a good time to let you know that you are more intelligent than you think  ; )  He rejects the antiquated notions that "scientists are more 'intelligent' than musicians or athletes" and he proposes a model for varying levels of 'multiple intelligences' within each person's brain.  He enumerates seven dimensions of human intelligence and he offers others for consideration:

1. Linguisitic - The creative or proficient use of language(s) should be considered a sign of intelligence
2. Logistical / Mathematical - Sometimes, this is the only type of intelligence that our society recognizes
3. Musical - Are Chopin, Bocelli and Dave Matthews intelligent?  Howard Gardner might say so.
4. Bodily / Kinesthetic - In this model, professional athletes are just as intelligent as doctors.  Whether or not Barry Bonds has been "cheating on his scantrons" is yet to be seen.
5. Spatial - That interior designer who can clearly visualize the future of any room in any house is intelligent.
6. Interpersonal - Intelligent salespeople and marketers?  Hmm...I think I like this theory  ; )  There's always that old joke..."How do you know when you're talking to an extroverted engineer?  He's looking at your shoes instead of his shoes."
7. Intrapersonal - Knowledge of yourself and your strengths, weaknesses, etc.
8. Spiritual (offered for consideration) - Might be seen as an overlap of the previous one, but Gardner makes a case for both.  Either that, or he is intelligent enough to sell more books by creating new intelligences every few years (look him up...he has published a ton of books over the years)!

This could be an interesting paradigm for a business.  Raise your hand if you have seen a company where the engineers think the businesspeople are impetuous and dumb and the businesspeople think the engineers are narrow-minded and slow.  Then, the engineers and the businesspeople both go home and turn on ESPN or MTV and they both feel smart.  Perhaps nobody is "dumb" or "smart."  We all simply have a combination of each of the seven (or eight) dimensions above, and the true test is in how we employ each person's realized talents.

Of course, marketers with a high level of interpersonal intelligence already knew this stuff anyway  ; )