Practical Intelligence (PIQ)

                                                                Can You Cook?

One of the folk songs we sang as kids was all about finding a woman with practical skills.
It went like this: 

Can she bake a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy
Can she bake a cherry pie Charming Billy?

The response from Billy Boy was:

She can bake a cherry pie quick as a cat can blink his eye
She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother.

Is being practical important today? Do we teach kids to have a high PIQ?

A new type of test and scale has just hit the market. It is not an Intelligence Quotient test or an Emotional IQ checklist. All of us are familiar with those instruments. This tests something that is even more important. It is called, Practical IQ. We all know stories about Einstein or other geniuses that could supposedly score 200 on an I Q test but could not keep track of their change. Einstein was said to be so brilliant in IQ that he could not remember the names of his kids. We get the absent minded professor stereotype from this kind of person.

I had a friend who taught at a seminary. He had ADD and loved to schmoose with students and other faculty members. It was said that Richard would often start toward his classroom to teach and stop to chat with someone. Many times he would get so distracted that at the end of his conversation he could not remember if he was heading for class or away from class. He would ask the person, “By the way. Was I going into the building to teach or was I coming out after teaching?” He had a low PIQ.

A professor of psychology at Yale, Robert J. Sternberg developed an alternative approach to IQ for discerning Intelligence.   His work arises from the previous writing about Multiple Intelligences and broadens it considerably.  We are all aware that IQ is not necessarily correlated with good leaders, managers, sales persons and other influencers. The key to success for these persons seems to be three abilities or giftings. Analytical Intelligence is the ability to analyze and evaluate ideas, solve problems and make decisions. Creative Intelligence involves going beyond what is given to generate novel and interesting ideas. Practical Intelligence enables us to find the best fit between our environment and ourselves.

Leaders must have Practical IQ. Some people recommend that Believers read a chapter of Psalms and a chapter of Proverbs daily. Psalms will help us get a great spiritual lift while Proverbs will keep us focused on daily life. I wish every Christian would read and remember the instructions about the way to treat a scoffer found in Proverbs 9:7.

Christian leaders at every level need all kinds of Intelligence. The problem is, they are difficult to teach. They are procedural rather than factual. It is knowledge about how to do something rather than knowledge about something.  Also, it is usually learned without the help of teachers or explicit instruction.  And, it is knowledge about things that personally important to the learner.

Jesus was good at all kinds of Intelligence.  He was able to see through the dilemmas people threw at him and find a way out. When the local group of men brought an adulterous woman to him and tried to throw Him a curve ball by enlisting him in a fake trial, Jesus showed His ability to Analyze. Be Creative and Practical. He often taught his disciples how to deal with powerful opponents by ‘Turning the other cheek” and ‘Giving unto Caesar that which is his and to God that which is His.” Jesus had gumption, as my people would say.  But, he said that it was better if he went away. Why would it be better when the world lay in darkness, pain, sickness and brutality and He was a teacher, healer and savior who was also the light of the world? 

 Behind every successful vision is someone with a PIQ. Who is the Practical Genius behind Billy Graham? Behind Rick Warren and other famous leaders? Several of our books, videos and papers integrate Vision with Practical Service, otherwise the organization will be flat and dead.