Kijun Times

In her book, The Gifted Adult (link is external), Mary-Elaine Jacobsen (2000), notes that there are at least 20 million Americans who could be identified as gifted, and she calls gifted adults “the most under-identified group of potential achievers in our society.” (p. 8).  Gifted adults are needed throughout every workplace, but unfortunately many face challenges in their career development, partly because intelligence isn’t the sole factor in career success: personality plays an equal, if not more important role. This post presents some personality issues which can be related to giftedness and provides Tips 4, 5 & 6 in the process of figuring out where and how to thrive in the workplace. (Find Tips 1,2, & 3 here.)  Also, check my previous posts for discussions of career decision-making issues and workplace traits of gifted individuals.  (Please note: It can be particularly hard to self-identify and correct personality issues which might be hindering your career success so, as before, I recommend that you consider meeting with a good career coach, counselor, or psychologist to talk through any issues you uncover.)

Gifted Career Thriving Tip #4: Notice When You’ve “Lost Your Balance” and Your Personality Might be Working Against You in the Workplace.

Unfortunately, superior intelligence does not provide protection from personality flaws which can scuttle your career. Jacobsen (2000 (link is external)) describes gifted individuals as often “intense, complex, and driven.” In their excellent book, Gifted Workers: Hitting the Target (link is external) (2013), authors Noks Nauta and Sieuwke Ronner note that “Gifted people at their best are original, creative, critical, driven and productive employees. They are very valuable in their work and in society. But when they lose their balance, they fall into traps that can sometimes lead to destructive behavior.” (Kindle Edition; Kindle locations 1930-31). They describe some gifted workers as “unguided missiles,” individuals who "cannot be guided, who cannot cooperate with others, cannot be communicated with," and possess a "'know it all' unsociable attitude towards colleagues and supervisors (and also towards partners and friends)."  (Kindle Edition; Kindle locations 1937-1938).

It’s not unusual for high intelligence to be accompanied by OCD issues, for example, which are a form of anxiety and can wreak havoc on your overall happiness. 

Perfectionism and procrastination are two ways in which this anxiety can be expressed. In my work with gifted young adults, I often find they struggle with these two inter-related personality traits. Some of my clients report that despite developing wonderful plans and ideas, they don’t even start a project they would like to do because they know it won’t be “perfect.”  In the workplace, the challenge of perfectionism can be a tendency to feel that you must do everything—particularly if you sense that your co-workers won’t do the task as well as you.  This is a recipe for burnout and resentment.  Focus on what you can reasonably do in the limited time-frame of your work hours, and on what must be done to meet the standards of the setting and the project—and watch out for the “it would be nice if we could also...” mindset which can cause projects to drag on forever.  I think it can be particularly hard for gifted individuals, who can see the big vision of a project, to settle for a smaller (perceived as lesser) version of it.

If this is a characteristic/challenge for you, recognize that it’s OK to relax and not be “perfect” all the time, since after all “perfect” is pretty much an illusion. Doing your best within the constraints of the moment may be a more accessible goal.  Consider how much of your stress over a project or assignment is due to your own perfectionistic standards and not what’s expected of you by others in the workplace.

If part of your challenge is that you see too much of the “big picture”—that is, you see a project and want to make it larger than others, you might be what is called in the StrengthsFinder (link is external) world, a “Maximizer (link is external).”  “Maximizing” can be a gift, but it can also get out of control. You might want to take that test to see where your particular strengths lie, knowing that since it’s not unusual for gifted individuals to have many strengths, this test will identify your top strengths and help you understand how those strengths work both for and against you. 

If procrastination is one way your perfectionism manifests itself try reading the works of Steven Pressfield (link is external). He is one of my favorite writers for getting past the resistance that comes from perfectionism. I re-read Do the Work (link is external) every time I need a quick energy boost and motivation. Turning Pro (link is external) is a great resource if you’re trying to get serious about a passion or a project. And if it is fear (anxiety) that’s holding you back, the late Susan Jeffers wrote one of the best books on that subject, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway (link is external).

Recently, several articles and books have been exposing the predominance of narcissism (link is external)—and even psychopathology (link is external)— in the workplace. These traits seem to be exhibited more by individuals who are at high levels within an organization, and presumably, very bright and talented.  Personality traits like narcissism (link is external) and psychopathology (link is external) are a controversial and mixed blessing in the business world, and even though they are found in some high-level managers, the hubris and traits connected with them can make you a difficult worker and colleague—and serve to ultimately scuttle your career.  A hallmark of the narcissistic personality is a lack of empathy for others: it’s one thing to recognize and use your talents; it’s another to ignore the needs of others around you. For a lesson in how narcissism can get out of control, read or watch Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (link is external).

In his fascinating book The Psychopath Test (link is external), author Jon Ronson notes that anxiety and psychopathology do not exist in the same person. He further states that narcissists and psychopaths may agree with the common traits of their personality types, but are quick to argue the value and validity of those traits.  While there are some valuable aspects to narcissism (link is external) (and all of us have narcissistic traits to some extent) narcissism unchecked can be a major challenge in the workplace.  This can be a particularly challenging personality area for gifted individuals.  The truth is, you often are smarter than your supervisor or colleagues, and this knowledge (or belief) can color your relationships with them and cause you to react or interact in negative ways. This is a good area to seek professional guidance to improve your ways of relating to others and develop better empathy or emotional intelligence:

• A 360-degree evaluation (where not only your supervisor but your colleagues and subordinates complete an anonymous evaluation of you) can help unearth the behaviors or attitudes which might impede your career success.  Check with your human resources office to find out if this type of evaluation is available at your workplace. 
• A nonbiased perspective may just be what you need if you have received negative feedback about your personality or style.  Working with a good psychologist, career coach, counselor, or social worker who is familiar with the personality and workplace challenges of gifted individuals can help you navigate your interactions with others. 

Gifted Career Thriving Tip #5: Build Up Your Positive Personality Traits through Emotional Intelligence and Positive Psychology.

At a conference a few years ago Dr. David Cooperrider (the founder of Appreciative Inquiry) posed a wonderful question: “What if strengths connected to strengths had the power to help us not merely perform but to transform?”  This, to me, is the essential question for gifted individuals.  What if your already identified gifts of outstanding intelligence and/or creativity could be combined with powerful and positive personality traits that would allow you to soar?

As we’ve already covered, negative personality traits and emotions can sabotage your career if you’re not aware of their impact and make efforts to change or compensate for them.  At the same time, it’s equally, perhaps more, important to focus on building up the personality traits and behaviors which will serve you well in the workplace. Building up your curiosity about other people’s opinions, developing empathy, and focusing on what works rather than automatically critiquing others, will go a long way to improve workplace relationships.   Two areas of research which can help immensely are positive psychology and emotional intelligence.  

Some individuals resist positive psychology because it’s mistakenly seen as “Pollyanna”-ish or, quite frankly, that optimism is somehow less "intelligent.”  This is partly due to poor marketing by publishers who insist on placing smiley faces on almost every book about it.  Smiley faces have nothing to do with developing the positive aspects of your personality and changing your perspective.  Read Martin Seligman’s Flourish (link is external) to get a balanced perspective of positive psychology.  One trait which Seligman has found to correlate with career success in many fields (other than law!) is optimism. Seligman has researched the value of optimism (link is external) in successful careers, and offers a free optimism test here (link is external).

The writings of Shawn Achor (link is external) are very accessible and he provides great summaries of the current research in the field while clearly identifying the steps to living a more positive life.  Check out his interesting Ted Talk (link is external) on the happy secret to better work (link is external).   

Nauta and Ronner (2013) (link is external) in their description of the personality challenges associated with gifted individuals, state that “the most consistent problem is a breakdown in communication” (Kindle location 1951), and that gifted individuals need to focus on ways to gain and improve their connections with their workplace. Daniel Goleman (link is external)’s work in the area of emotional intelligence could provide quite valuable support for developing better communication skills with his emphasis on the five key components of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, internal motivation, empathy and social skills. Developing your communication skills through emotional intelligence might just be the key to moving forward in your career (not to mention your personal life). 

Gifted Career Thriving Tip #6:  Rediscover Your Sense of Humor.

One characteristic often noted about gifted children is their well-developed sense of humor.  While this may not always amuse their teachers, humor can provide a great balance and perspective to what otherwise might be a tense or stressful situation. 

One of my mentors used to tell a story about when she received her doctorate.  She had to remain at home in a small town to take care of her mother, and there were no jobs that could use her education.  She took a job as a secretary to the head of a local corporation, and he used to introduce her as “my secretary, Dr. Smith.”  She joked about how much fun they had with that at meetings. Ultimately that gentleman provided her a terrific reference and introduced her to some leaders at a nearby university, where she served as a vice-president for many years.  If she hadn’t had a sense of humor (and balance) about her situation, the outcome might have been very different.

Your productivity or surfeit of ideas might be overwhelming to others and perhaps the source of teasing or kidding.  I’m an avid reader and always finding ways to connect what I read with the work I do, and my staff at UT Austin used to joke that they most feared me coming in on a Monday morning saying, “I read a book over the weekend and…” They said they wanted to run when they heard that because it probably meant we were going to try something new.  I really appreciated their humor—and the honesty underneath it.  It served as a warning to me to be more sensitive to promoting too many new ideas or changes when others weren’t ready for it—and weren’t in control of it. It also helped me sort out which ideas were really worth promoting and which were better off remaining unsaid.

Having a sense of humor and trying not to take yourself so seriously can go a long way to build positive relationships.

Career Thriving Tip #7: Return to Childhood and Rediscover the Endless Possibilities of Creativity.

I use mindmaps in my work to help individuals find their passions and “possible lives.”  When I do this in a college classroom setting, I often ask, “How many of you consider yourselves creative?”  Only a few hands go up.  And yet, when I run a career program at an elementary school and ask the same question, almost every hand goes up.  What happened?  As adults, we tend to become “realistic”, we consider it a badge of honor to know our limitations, to dispose of silly dreams, and put creativity in a box that belongs to someone else.  And yet, every one of us has potential to be creative with ideas, with thoughts, and with all sorts of artistic mediums from painting to writing. I’m not saying everyone is F. Scott Fitzgerald or Vincent van Gogh—I’m just saying we can all unlock and expand our inner creativity.  Here’s an experiment: don’t think you have any artistic ability? Check out Betty Edwards’ excellent book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (link is external) and see what you uncover.  Want to boost your overall creative thinking?  Read Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit (link is external).  Want to write a book?  Start with Anne Lamott's Bird-by-Bird (link is external). Finding a place to express your creativity can be imperative for gifted individuals, particularly if your work-setting is not conducive to new ideas or out-of-the-box thinking. If you've lost touch with your creative side, try remembering what creative activities you enjoyed as a child and see if at least one of them is worth resurrecting.  Bonding through creative activities like singing (link is external) has been shown to develop deeper friendships and decrease feelings of isolation.