Erica Dhawan - Get big things done : the power of connectional intelligence

They call them simply Big Waves. But the phrase seems hardly adequate to describe the towering avalanches of water that can rise between sixty and one hundred feet above sea level. If youve never seen such a wave, it can be hard to comprehend just how big it is. Imagine six cars piled bumper to bumper, vertically, into the sky. A wave as tall as a small office building, as long as the distance between first base and third base on a baseball diamond. These monster waves dont look like normal waves, and they dont behave like them either. They reach their incredible size by gathering strength from neighboring waves, absorbing three or four into one massive swell. Their energy is almost kinetic; their movements are impossible to predict.

We believe that connectional intelligence is, metaphorically speaking, the monster wave of our time. Since the turn of the twentieth century, people have dreamt of a world in which technology will enable men and women to create things with their minds, just as machines transformed the means of production in the Industrial Age.

In 1945, Dr. Vannevar Bush published his groundbreaking essay As We May Think in The Atlantic Monthly. The editors of the magazine marveled at Bushs premise, which might well be called a manifesto for connectional intelligence. They wrote that, after the weapons of war have been put down,

... men [and women] of science should then turn to the massive task of making more accessible our bewildering store of knowledge. For years inventions have extended mans physical powers rather than the powers of his mind. Trip hammers that multiply the fists, microscopes that sharpen the eye, and engines of destruction and detection are new results, but not the end results, of modern science. Now, says Dr. Bush, instruments are at hand which, if properly developed, will give man access to and command over the inherited knowledge of the ages.

We believe that we are now unlocking what those editors called, nearly seventy years ago, our bewildering store of knowledge, because today, for the first time in history, billions of people from all walks of life, races, countries and social economic status are inclusively connected. Previously, new forms of connection and communications were primarily reserved for and used by the elite. Never before have so many people had access, through mobile, social and digital technology, to so much data, knowledge and collective brainpower. We believe that this connectedness gives us power to solve big problems, turn dreams into realities, create amazing products, upgrade survival to prosperity, change social policy, discover life-saving medical cures and much, much more. When we combine this with the inclusive imagination and insight of billions of peopleall connectedwe begin to comprehend the monster wave of connectional intelligence that is transforming our lives.

Heres what we think is happening. We all know about the value of having high IQ, but historically, the importance of high intelligence rose after the advent of the printing press, when people could share ideas in the form of reading and books. This led to rapid advances in science, widespread literacy, new forms of governance and the many inventions that brought us to the modern world.

Similarly, the importance of EQ (emotional intelligence) rose dramatically with the rise of large, densely populated cities and as organizations with thousands of people spread across the globe. Having high EQ is always valuable to leaders, but when leading large groups, it becomes a critical capability. Indeed, today, in both the private and nonprofit sectors, high EQ is recognized as a must-have ability for anyone seeking to lead a large, diverse and geographically dispersed organization.

And now, we are seeing the rise of something we call connectional intelligence (CxQ). Our definition: Connectional Intelligence is the ability to combine the worlds diversity of people, networks, disciplines and resources, forging connections that create value, meaning and breakthrough results.

For us, the promise of connectional intelligence couldnt be simpler, more powerful or more inspiring:

Take a Dream.

Add Connection.

Dream Bigger.

Get Big Things Done.

The word connection gets thrown around a lot today. Faced with an abundance of tools for connecting, we are often left overwhelmed, without a clear sense of how to use the myriad forms of connection in the service of human potential. To some people, connection simply means being constantly online: social media, technology, apps, entertainment, digital sharing and all the forms of instant communication that are becoming a pervasive part of the fabric of how we live.

Connectional intelligence is the ability to combine the worlds diversity of people, networks, disciplines and resources, forging connections that create value, meaning and breakthrough results.

For those of you who think connectional intelligence sounds good, but feel that you dont need to be more connected than you already are, know that were talking about something much broader and more profound than a new-and-cool set of digital tools. And for those of you who think that hyper-connectivity is just about teenagers on Twitter and twenty-somethings on Instagram, know that inclusive connection is the foundation on which the next wave of human potential will rise.

Humans have always been connectional. Weve always been curious. Weve always combined things. Weve always been travelers. Weve always been conversationalists. We are living in a new era in which the traditional routes to powerthe schools you go to, the contacts in your address book, the families you are born toare no longer the only ways to get ahead. Never before have so many people, of so many different backgrounds, been able to connect with such a vast network of ideas, information and resources. One of the key things to understand is that connectional intelligence combined with inclusive connection is inherently democratic.

One of the questions that we seek to address in this book is how do you cut through the noise of e-mail and social media to connect intelligently? How do we marshal what we know that much more quickly? How do we find and keep supporters? How do we influence the greatest number of people? How do we propel connectional intelligence beyond traditional networking and the massive entertainment element of our digital lives toward a loftier purpose? In short, how do we get behind this newfound connectivity and use it to get to the places where we want to go?

Two decades after the Internet blasted into our collective lives, its time for a guidebook that shows us all how to access and launch this innate human capability to make connections. The big news, especially for anyone whos experienced digital overload or fatigue, is that there are many real-life applications for all of your connectedness that are bigger and more powerful than how many followers you have on Twitter or how many likes your post gets on Facebook. Connectional intelligence propels us all beyond networking and entertainment toward a loftier purposeimproving peoples lives, building sustainable societies and creating the futures we want. Soon it will also be a required skill: todays and tomorrows generations will know no world without smart connection, and we cant ask them to park or squander what they do best.