Intelligence: A Gift or a Choice?

The most abundant and fruitful ones don’t stand tall in arrogance - they bow in humility, remembering the rain, the sunlight, the soil, and the hands that nurtured them.

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There’s so much talk about deep tech in town - its impact, the funding and returns, the innovation and transformation it drives.

It’s truly awe-inspiring to witness brilliant minds harnessing their intellectual gifts to create solutions that transform lives. Every breakthrough I see in the incubator programme in which I am part of the Trainers & Coaches Team, leaves me speechless.

Intellectual capability is God-given. I am not sure if I could say it’s a choice, for surely I can’t choose to be as intelligent as these scientists 🤩. Hence it’s something more than being proud of, something to be grateful for instead.

And if we are indeed grateful for this gift, then complement it with a partner - one that brings out its best, one that we DO have a choice in.

Will we pair our God-given intellectual capabilities to serve humanity, or will we let them serve only ourselves?

Someone once shared an analogy that stuck with me:
“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒘𝒔.”

The most abundant and fruitful ones don’t stand tall in arrogance - they bow in humility, remembering the rain, the sunlight, the soil, and the hands that nurtured them.

And in turn, they nourish others.

What about you, The Intelligent?

Choose wisely what you ‘marry’ your intelligence with.

Choose service.

Choose humility.

Choose empathy.

Choose more than building. Choose to uplift.

And that alone, will need you to choose beyond intelligence.