Howard Gardner

Howard Gardner "Ask the Expert" interview about being Wonderfully Human the “Ask the Expert” feature is an interview series that connects you with industry thought leaders and gives you the opportunity to participate in inspiring conversations. This year we’ve spoken with Jane Pollak about possibility thinking, Dorothy Breininger about success, Dr. April Lane Benson about enlisting help, Leslie Josel about motivation, David Allen about time management, Peter Walsh about clutter, Sheila Delson about letting go, Laura Berman Fortgang about next steps, Judith Kolberg about change, and Sue West about fresh starts. This month I’m excited to have with us cognition, learning, and ethics expert, Howard Gardner, to share his insights and experience about multiple intelligences and learning.

Long before I met Howard, I became familiar with his theory of multiple intelligences through our youngest daughter’s third grade teacher. She designed her classroom based on his theories to help each child honor and explore their strengths. Several years later I had the pleasure of meeting and hearing Howard speak at a local music school. My deepest gratitude goes to Howard for graciously saying, “yes” to this interview and for taking the time to join us. Before we begin, here’s more about him.

Howard Gardner is a psychologist and writer who has been at Harvard for over fifty years. He is the Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is the author of twenty-nine books including The App Generation: How Today’s Youth Navigate, Identify, Intimacy, and Imagination in a Digital World, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, and Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadershipand several hundred articles. Best known for his work on intelligence, creativity, and leadership, he has been studying the nature of good work, good citizenship, good digital play, and associated ‘goods’ and trying to enhance their incidence in today’s world. You can connect with Howard through Howard Gardner or The Good Project websites.

Linda Samuels:  You are internationally known for developing the theory of multiple intelligences. What becomes possible when we understand that we process and learn in diverse ways?

Howard Gardner:  There is greater understanding of other persons. Why, for example, they can approach a task in a way that is totally different than ours, and yet be equally, perhaps more successful.

At work and play, instead of looking for persons like us, we instead search for individuals with strengths and weaknesses that complement our own.

Linda:  You once said that, “…when we study plants or atoms, they are not affected by what we learn.  But when we study human beings, our findings can affect the future behavior of humans.” What has been your most surprising discovery?

Howard: My most surprising scientific discovery:  While the left hemisphere of the brain processes ordinary language, it is the right hemisphere that understands metaphor, irony, intention, and other speech acts.

Most surprising general discovery:  Rather than being primarily cognitive, creative achievements emanate from a certain kind of personality and temperament living in a certain cultural context.

Linda:  In your book, Intelligence Reframed, you wrote that we each have a “unique blend of intelligences.” How can we best embrace our uniqueness?

Howard:  Not to worry about what we can’t do, nor to worry about whether we are like others. Instead, pursue what you love, what you can get better at, share it with others, and they will reciprocate.

Linda:  Many professional organizers use their understanding about learning styles and differences to more effectively help their clients. How does your theory of multiple intelligences relate to learning styles?

Howard:  Individuals continually conflate MI and learning styles and yet they are ENTIRELY different concepts. Learning styles refers to how people putatively approach a range of tasks; for example, person A has a playful style, while B has an obsessive one. Intelligences refer to the strengths of our several mental computers. I may compute language more effectively than I compute spatial relations, and yet I have every right to decide to become an architect rather than a poet.

Linda:  How have your theories changed the way you personally interact with other people?

Howard:  When assembling a team, I look for individuals whose abilities complement one another and think about how to get them to work synergistically.

Linda:  Is there anything else you’d like to share that I haven’t asked?

Howard:  What questions do you think cannot or should not be answered in 500 words or less?!

I love your sense of humor, Howard. Yes, I realize that it’s not a simple matter to craft the responses to all these questions using 500 words or less. I greatly appreciated your ability to do so. I apologize if this limited what you wanted to share. If you would like, feel free to add additional thoughts to the conversation (without any word limitations.)

Thank you for sharing your wisdom about learning, intelligence, and being human. The thread throughout your responses of appreciating our differences and embracing our uniqueness resonated with me. We aren’t the same. Why should we be? It’s in the sharing of these differences that makes life interesting.

I invite you to join Howard and me as we continue the conversation. Come share your thoughts about being wonderfully human. Which ideas speak to you?

Denslow Brown

Denslow Brown, Organizer & CoachInspiring conversations continue with the “Ask the Expert” feature on The Other Side of Organized blog. We’ve spoken about possibilities with DeeAnne White, success with Lori Deschene, enlisting help with Janet Barclay, motivation with Dr. Shannon Reece, time management with Julie Morgenstern, clutter with Lorie Marrero, letting go with Geralin Thomas, next steps with Yota Schneider, and change with John Ryan. As we shift our focus this month, I’m thrilled to bring you the fabulous coach, organizer, speaker, and trainer, Denslow Brown to share her wisdom about creating a life that fits.

Denslow and I met almost 20 years ago through our professional organizing associations, NAPO and ICD. She is an industry leader and teacher who I greatly admire for her wisdom, unique perspectives, and ability to clearly communicate. I am honored to have her as my mentor and friend. My deepest thanks and gratitude goes to her for taking the time to join us. Before we begin, here’s more about Denslow.

Denslow Brown, CPO, CPO-CD, SCAC, MCC is the only person in the organizing and coaching professions with the highest credentials in both fields, attesting to her decades of experience, training, leadership, and pioneering efforts in these areas. She has also developed a specialty working with individuals with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder, also known as AD/HD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.) In addition to working with those who want organizing and life-design support, she mentors and trains many organizing and coaching professionals. She has been an organizer since 1974. Denslow is the founder and Director of Training of the Coach Approach for OrganizersTM. You can connect with Denslow on Facebook, Linkedin, or training and coaching websites.

Linda:  You’re an expert on helping others create a life that fits. What are some of the essential ingredients to incorporate into the mix?

Denslow:  Self-knowledge is the key to creating a life that fits.  You can’t know what your own incredible life could look like if you don’t know your strengths, values, needs, roles, passions, goals and preferences – as well as specific challenges (health issues, modality sensitivities, etc.)

Linda:  It’s likely that we’ll make mistakes as we design a life that fits. What is the value in those challenges?

Denslow:  Mistakes will be made on our way to a life that fits – it’s inevitable.  It helps, of course, to use those mistakes as learning opportunities.  Say, for example, you make a choice to enter a profession or take a certain job only to discover that it’s a terrible fit.  Think back to your initial thinking and assumptions.  What do you understand now that you didn’t before?  Was the choice of what kind of work to go into wrong or was the specific situation you found yourself in wrong in its own unique ways? In retrospect, could you have defined or shaped your company, job or industry differently (to suit you)?  Were you somehow naïve in your assumptions going in?  What have you learned about yourself?  Our mistakes offer us rich data for the all-important self-knowledge picture if we’re willing to deconstruct them.

Linda:  What becomes possible when we focus on our strengths, needs and values?

Denslow:  Focusing on strengths allows you to contribute the best of yourself.  You simply feel better about who you are in the world when you operate out of your strengths.  You’re more likely to feel that your day went well.  You also are in a better position to be appreciated and compensated when you offer your strengths (your best) to a workplace, group or family (generally speaking).

Focusing on and meeting your needs (what you need in terms of basic survival and well-being) offers the emotional freedom that comes from a sense of security.  Ignoring your own needs is draining and upsetting which undermines health and healthy relationships. 

Focusing on your values (what you need to feel fulfilled) enriches life and gives it meaning.  When we live our values we feel we are who we were meant to be.  The person who values family spends time with family.  The person who values beauty makes art, works in the garden or decorates her home.

Linda:  Sometimes we lack clarity.  How do we identify what is most important?

Denslow:  Making time to develop broad self-knowledge is important.  Any really wonderful or challenging experience is worth reflection.  Talk it over with a friend, write or mind-map about it, or mull it over when walking or driving (safely, please). What does that experience tell you about who you are, what your strengths are and what you value and/or need?

Linda:  What has been your biggest personal challenge around creating a life that brought out the best of who you are?

Denslow:  My biggest challenge was learning to accommodate my late-diagnosed inattentive ADD which came to the forefront when I was in my late 30’s when I entered that long pre-menopausal period when hormone (specifically estrogen) support is less consistent for women.  Until then, my intelligence, cheerful nature, organizing skills and willingness to make some unconventional choices meant that my ADD symptoms weren’t as problematic or noticeable as they could have been.  For example, I was self-employed and a renter – and I’d chosen not to have children -- so my life seemed pretty manageable. 

But with a new home (which I designed and helped build over 6 years) and the lack of consistent hormone support, my ADD symptoms became really problematic.  I needed to identify my real priorities (values, needs), take better care of myself (sleep, yoga, scheduling), and then identify and hold my boundaries. 

These were big shifts and they happened over time.  To create my life that fits I needed to learn about ADD.  The support of an ADD coach was really important in helping me understand how ADD shows up in my life specifically.  There was a lot of humorous but negative self-talk which I had been pretty unaware of.  I learned to replace it with more positive and accurate statements.  I had no idea how those muttered comments could undermine my days. I also needed to learn to leverage my strengths more.  Like many others, I didn’t see all of my strengths, as they seemed natural to me.  That leveraging of strengths was huge.

Ten years later I again worked with a coach to redesign my organizing and coaching business.  This time we really looked at the whole picture: strengths, values, needs, roles, passions, goals and preferences, as well as limits and boundaries.  Through a process of elimination and experimentation I determined that teaching coaching skills to organizers was the next stage of life work for me.  I love to teach and I love organizers and the work they do in the world.  I passionately believe training in coaching and ADD are critical to the organizing industry, which I’ve long been devoted to.  I’m still self-employed so I have a lot of say about my “working conditions.” I have considerable administrative assistance.  I work with training partners, which helps my focus and provides back up.  All these choices are ADD supportive.  And because I train by phone I can live in the beautiful countryside with lots of land, privacy, animals and community. 

Recently my life partner had a terrible illness.  I wondered, as her unconscious body worked through the decision to live or die, whether we or I would want to stay in our home and life – and if I would want to continue my work.  Now that we are a year into her recovery, I am excited to realize that the life we’d created for ourselves and the work life I’d created for myself, still excited us.  The only change was a much deeper gratitude for a life that fits!

Thank you, Denslow for sharing both your life philosophy and personal journey with us. Your ideas and life are a testament to the fact that by searching for self-knowledge, enlisting the right kind of support, focusing on one’s strengths, passions, values, and needs, you truly can flourish and design a life that fits. I invite all of you to join Denslow and me as we continue the conversation. Which ideas resonate with you?