What sets women with High Potential apart?
Article : This article was originally published in Harvard Business Review France
In today's society, many women are going about their lives carrying a uniqueness that sometimes even they don't recognise. Yet their atypical, intense way of functioning never leaves the people they meet feeling indifferent. So what are the characteristics which set women with high intellectual potential (HIP) apart?
“I can’t help thinking differently and I never take what I’m told for granted. When I’m faced with a challenging problem, I have to keep digging deeper into it until I solve it.” Sylvie, 60, is gifted. A type of profile that was studied extensively by the 20th century Polish psychiatrist, Kazimierz Dabrowski. His studies led him to define five major areas of overexcitability (intellectual, emotional, sensual, imaginational, and psychomotor), in which some individuals react with a much higher intensity than the average person. An extraordinary excitability which has the effect of making people feel internal or external stimuli more intensely and responding to them in an amplified manner. Although the high levels of enthusiasm and willpower that this generates could be viewed positively, it can actually lead to great suffering. Finding ways to channel their energy effectively remains one of the key issues for women with high intellectual potential.
It is this intellectual overexcitability that pushes Sylvie to fully invest herself and to dig endlessly into a subject, sometimes struggling to find the off switch. “It’s exhausting, my brain is always on overdrive. The worst thing is that I tire the others because I just can’t let go of an unresolved issue.” Mental exhaustion is more common among women, who are more deeply involved in their activities. This intellectual overstimulation can also be frustrating in the professional sphere. “It always surprises me that, when I find the solution, I’m faced with two different reactions: some people are annoyed that I’ve swept everything under the carpet while others are happy that the problem has finally been brought to light. I think they see me as a machine for detecting frauds, which scares them and so they take a dislike to me. I can quickly become their ‘scapegoat’.
Indeed, women with HIP don’t hesitate to question the status quo and challenge the prevailing norm if they feel it’s appropriate and fair to do so. Their quest for understanding doesn’t stop at silos and internal political issues, which often take a back seat. They seek to understand objectively and believe that this quest for truth gives them the legitimacy to move forward. Consequently, they may unknowingly find themselves tangled up in political webs which can be detrimental to them, leading to further intellectual and emotional exhaustion.
An Outstanding Sensitivity
Numerous studies have revealed differences between HIP men and women, mainly on a sensory and emotional level. This results in a greater absorption of the emotions around them and an unconscious integration of weak signals which are not visible to others in their analytical framework. This significant consideration of people in their decision-making process makes them deeply empathetic individuals with a great ability to listen to and support the people who need them most. In companies, once they have managed to overcome their intellectual control bias and understand that others do not have the same singular way of working as they do, these women often go on to become well-respected managers who understand and develop their teams. “I realise that I fight more for my teams than I do for myself, I defend their growth more than my own!” says Clémence, 38, who has decided to focus on putting herself first as her exacerbated sense of others has led her to forget about how she matters too. “I’m also learning to be empathetic and forgiving towards myself, which really isn’t easy.”
By becoming more involved than is necessary, they are also more likely to suffer from burnout. Constant questioning and hypersensitivity can be a terrible combination when it becomes a vicious circle: dealing with all the various files quickly, integrating increasing amounts of information, and finding ever more solutions. High levels of intensity and energy are being invested, but this can have a detrimental effect when priorities are not established correctly, leading to exhaustion and, even worse, burnout. “I don’t need to be stimulated, I have an internal engine that is constantly running,” explains Anne-Lise, who experienced a serious burnout. “My manager didn’t reduce my workload, he always gave me more because he recognised my eagerness to learn. When he gave me criticism it just made me work even harder to please him. I couldn’t take it anymore but I didn’t know how to stop,” she continues. Managers are often insufficiently trained when it comes to identifying these intense profiles and preventing their susceptibility to burnout. Overstimulating them often serves no purpose; attention should instead be paid to balance, compassion, and prioritising demands.
Creative Potential Often Wasted
When we speak of people with high intellectual potential, we rarely mention the creative potential of these profiles. Yet this is an area of overexcitability in which they excel and which sets them apart. Women with HIP are sometimes unaware of their own talent, even though some studies, such as that of Candace Gross and Kelly Jamieson in 2007, show that they are more creative than their male colleagues. This could be due to the fact that they have overadapted to meet the expectations of a society which they understand very well. By levelling down, they have occasionally put aside their imaginative potential and their ability to think outside the box. A creative, but not necessarily artistic, talent which can be expressed in many areas. “I love having a blank page on which to create something new. My mind runs wild and I go off in all directions because I feel that anything is possible.” Sylvie’s eyes light up when she talks about this experience, and it’s easy to sense the pleasure and joy it gives her. She’s not afraid of the unknown that this newness brings, even if she may at times fear “making mistakes and being judged”. The famous gaze of the other, which is often seen when one is the bearer of a difference, even a cognitive one, and which can restrain the emergence of a frightening potential that holds the power to shake up fields that are not used to new ideas.
When they innovate, women with HIP do so with an overall, systemic vision. Their curiosity, eagerness to learn, and willpower makes them quick to find new solutions to complex problems. When a subject allows them to express all of this at once, it activates their range of talents. They can then switch on their sensory and emotional sensors to gather all sorts of information and couple this with a powerful analytical engine to rationalise the potential for implementation of the solutions found. A form of pragmatic creativity, combined with a highly developed intuition that allows them to build a unique vision.
These new skills, known as “mad skills” or disruptive skills, were once feared.
Hard skills were preferred, as they were seen to be more concrete and reassuring. However, the uncertain environment in which we are evolving – as the recent health crisis reminds us – calls for more openness, which is itself essential for new ways of functioning and greater cognitive diversity, including empathy and creativity. Tomorrow’s solutions do not lie in the reproduction of a bygone era, but in the ability to pick up on weak signals and to take into account, in real time, new elements in order to select the best solution for the moment. The approach will need to be as original as the context itself.