Pure intelligence overrated in a leader

Re The ‘smart’ test in public life, Opinion Nov. 6 Thanks to Rick Salutin for the excellent article. The obsession with the smartness as the benchmark for a person’s eminence is rooted in the mid-20th century’s Western attitude in which the so-called smartest man in the room should have the last word. However, a person is really considered the smartest if he or she scores the highest in a school test (or some IQ test) relative to others.

When a country is electing a leader who may shape the destiny of the country, it is not a “smart” thing to consider the leader’s smartness as the most important criterion of his/her suitability.

To engage in decision-making, a leader needs a set of skills that are beyond the measure of smartness or brilliance. These skills are acquired from the surrounding environment, such as: the ability to work with others, flexibility, creativity, having empathy and a sense of optimism, integrity, patience and thoughtfulness, and vision.

These qualities reinforce the notion that humans are not perfect and they must work together in order to make things better. Even the smartest person in the room can be wrong if he/she doesn’t have a thorough grasp of the situation under evaluation. Ali Orang, Richmond Hill My first mother-in-law was a teacher for over 30 years. She saw a lot of kids come through her class in that time and at one point she was a principal. She always felt that smart was overemphasized and common sense sadly lacking.

I have to say that as the years go by, my views tend to agree with hers. I have met lots of “smart” people but not a lot of common sense/practical people.

My guess is that Justin Trudeau is a common sense/practical person who has likely done a lot of thinking as to where and what he wants to achieve while in office.

At the outset he appears to be able to delegate jobs and tasks. That counts for a lot. Time will tell if he gets to achieve his vision and goals. But I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. Catherine Hetu, Merlin, Ont.