‘Social’ Intelligence: Update Your General Knowledge. NOW.

Some maintain that the most horrific feeling in the world is when you find out how little you know about something.

I beg to differ. Actually, I have no intention to beg; I shall simply differ.

The most stupendously unnerving feeling in the world is being surrounded by people who have no desire to learn more about the things they already think they know about.

Or even worse- to realise that you are one of them…

Philosophicalmuch?

Well, not really, no. Instead of bamboozling you with a two- page discussion on the matter, I shall opt to depict the above notion via an oversimplified example (my, my, what a sophisticated sentence that was, eh?)

Namely:

Let us assume that you are at this social gathering or a ‘party’, as young people call it these days.

Most of the people are, say, lawyers such as yourself. Thus, you are quite right to assume that the night will be a ‘smooth ride’ if you stick to your legal topics and be as obiter as you can so that you can draw as much attention as possible.

Suddenly, and quite out of the blue, a charming lady approaches your group and starts having a chat with a gentleman about this very interesting blog she has recently stumbled upon.

They start discussing what they keep referring to as ‘3D Printing’. Sipping your Merlot, you pretend to listen to and be interested in their discussion whilst contributing with the occasional nod of the head in the desperate hope that they will move onto a new topic.

And they do. They are now discussing MOTs for CEOs and the similarities and difference between today’s democracy and that of ancient Rome.

You can feel the cold sweat coming down your forehead, you know that, sooner or later, the wine in your glass will disappear; or even worse- it will reappear.

You excuse yourself and walk away. Alas, you have only done so to walk into a similar awkward situation- a talk on the knock- on effect that WWI and WWII have had on Europe’s economics and demographics.

You are outside your comfort zone; miles away, in fact. You feel frustrated, ashamed, confused and, well…annoyed at yourself for creating this narrow comfort zone and confining yourself to it.

And so ends your networking for the night.

But worry, not because, as 007 has once said, tomorrow never dies. All you have to do is to spare half an hour to an hour per day and update your general knowledge so that you are savvy (not an expert!) on more than one topic.

And here’s where you start:

à http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yocja_N5s1I

Yeap, it’s human history in a nutshell- forty- one twelve- minute episodes filled with valuable information and a fair amount of humour.

So, pray, get on that internet and update your general knowledge unless you want to spend the rest of your life being fed peanuts through the bars of this stuffy and narrow cage that is your ‘comfort zone’.