Today, Anne-Claire Pliska gives us her vision of giftedness in the Gifted interview. Thank you Anne-Claire! She is a serial entrepreneur, in strategy and innovation. Anne-Claire currently lives in Zurich, Switzerland.
.IF I COULD CHOOSE, WOULD I STILL BE GIFTED?
Each gifted person is unique, with his or her strengths and weaknesses, and it is, therefore, difficult to answer this question in a generic way. For my part, I live this specificity all the better since I became aware a few years ago of my own operating software. This discovery and the ensuing work on myself continue on a daily basis, so that I can take advantage of this cognitive over-performance while remaining connected to my social environment.
.WHAT (MY OWN) GIFTEDNESS MEANS TO ME
My Giftedness is mainly reflected in four factors: multipotentiality, speed of information processing, working memory, and energy, which is said to be extraordinary. These four factors are most evident in professional life.
I am not the same person in private, probably because I need to balance my energy.
.IF I HAD TO CHOOSE AN IMAGE OR A KEYWORD THAT SUMS UP WHAT GIFTEDNESS MEANS
Driving a racing car in the city of Lucerne, which is known for its speed cameras on every corner. The social fine can be quite high.
.HOW LONG HAVE I KNOWN ABOUT IT?
A very, very complicated professional – and life – situation about 8-10 years ago, which made me realise “who I am”.
.WHAT PHASES HAVE I GONE THROUGH SINCE MY DISCOVERY?
I don’t have the impression of having gone through phases. Let’s say there was the phase before and the phase after this discovery, respectively before and after this complicated professional situation. Since then, I have put in place coping strategies, focused on managing many projects (in the broadest sense of the word) in parallel, to dissipate my energy. Understanding that one’s own frame of reference is out of the ordinary – in the literal sense of the word – makes it possible to understand that the other person also has his or her own frame of reference and therefore to better accept differences.
.HOW DO I EXPLAIN IT TO SOMEONE WHO HAS NEVER HEARD OF IT?
In general, I don’t explain it to a person who has never heard of it, unless I suspect that he or she fits into the gifted category, is not aware of its specificities – and doesn’t fit into his or her environment. That’s a lot of conditions. On the other hand, the people concerned talk to me about it quite easily, given my public stance on this issue.
.THE REMARK WHICH BLEW ME AWAY MOST WHEN I TALKED ABOUT IT
I don’t have any negative experiences because I choose my target audience.
.HOW IT CHANGED MY LIFE (TO KNOW IT)
It made me aware of my operating software and my frame of reference, to understand my strengths, and to put in place these coping strategies. These coping strategies have their limits, of course, depending on the environment in which you find yourself. Choosing the environment is therefore essential.
I also realised that I had a very cognitive approach in certain situations. So I can now consciously choose whether I want to use this natural cognitive approach or, on the contrary, an approach that will leave more room for the relationship with the other person.
In short, I think that knowing this and understanding its implications allows me to make better choices for my well-being.
.WHAT I HAVE ALLOWED MYSELF TO DO EVER SINCE
It is easier to be yourself when you understand yourself better and have identified the origin of the difference. I haven’t yet turned this discrepancy into an element of personal branding, but it is perhaps the direction to take, not on the notion of giftedness per se, but on how it manifests itself in me, and especially what added value I bring to an organisation.
.WHAT IRRITATES ME WITH GIFTEDNESS
Several things:
- The terms used, which lead to a reductive understanding of this concept, whereas the impact of this specificity can be very different from one gifted person to another.
- The therapeutic approaches also differ. In France, I don’t see what “occupational medicine” has to do with it… In Germany, I see a bit too much “praxis” in this field.
- The analysis of the psychology of gifted people in every conceivable context.
.WHAT I PERSONALLY FIND TO BE THE MOST DIFFICULT
Projecting myself into the other person’s frame of reference, which is different from my own, in order to find synergies. In this respect, my activities in communication force me to make this work more conscious. I hope to make it more natural in the long run.
.WHAT I PERSONALLY LOVE
Multipotentiality, the ability to learn new skills quickly. And the more you learn, the easier it is to learn new things because you can build on a tree of skills.
.MY WELLBEING TOOL OR PRACTICE THAT HELPS ME MOST
Sport, and running in particular. Shiatsu too. It allows me to unplug. Philosophical readings too, but I don’t disconnect at all.
.WHAT I WANT TO SAY TO GIFTED PEOPLE
The feeling of being happy or unhappy rarely depends on our state in the absolute, but on our perception of the situation, on our capacity to be satisfied with what we have.
-Dalai Lama
.WHAT I WANT TO SAY TO PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT CONCERNED
The feeling of being happy or unhappy rarely depends on our state in the absolute, but on our perception of the situation, on our capacity to be satisfied with what we have.
-Dalai Lama
.WHAT I WOULD RECOMMEND TO SOMEONE WHO IS WONDERING
Questioning is the beginning of liberation. You have to continue this work on yourself.
.THE MISTAKE NOT TO MAKE FOR A GIFTED PERSON
Considering that everyone functions with the same frame of reference. A symptom: providing solutions when the problem has not yet been identified by the environment. We can go too fast.
.MY PROFESSIONAL ADVICE FOR GIFTED
Find your strengths and build on them. And understand how these strengths can move the organisation forward.
This is very generic and valid for everyone! Except that here the strengths will probably be different, more focused on creativity, transversality, continuous improvement, etc.
And this is where the environment becomes very important. You have to find (or create) an environment that needs these abilities and has understood the added value of atypical profiles in the organisation. Otherwise, run away!
.MY OPINION ABOUT THE IQ WAIS TEST
A measuring instrument, which measures what it has to measure, i.e. cognitive abilities under stress. It should not be made to say what it does not measure…
.IS IT A WASTE NOT TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE GIFTED?
Only when this person comes up against the walls of his environment, without understanding why. And here, I take up Fabrice Micheau‘s words: it’s non-assistance to a person in danger to do nothing. I think we should try to give these people the keys, and not insist if they don’t open up.
NB from Gloria: (re)discover the interview with Fabrice Micheau HERE.
.WHEN I MEET ANOTHER GIFTED PERSON, DO I RECOGNIZE HIM.HER? BY WHAT?
I think we develop antennae, which give few false negatives. But it’s difficult to make a rule, as this specificity is very individual.
.WHAT DO GIFTED PEOPLE HAVE IN COMMON?
.THE CRUCIAL STEPS NOT TO BE MISSED IN THE JOURNEY OF A GIFTED PERSON?
Becoming aware of one’s own way of functioning and one’s own frame of reference.
.THE LAST THING I LEARNED ON THE SUBJECT (THAT I’D LIKE TO SHARE)
I have the impression that we are going in circles on this subject. I can’t wait for neuroscience to come up with something new, or for neuroscience to take over the issues of organisational management and sociology.
.A HUNCH ON THE SUBJECT
Cognitive diversity is the next wave of HR policy for inclusiveness in companies.
.THE QUESTION THAT I WAS MISSING BUT THAT I WOULD LIKE TO ANSWER?
We often see the question “how to detect gifted people and integrate them into the company? In my opinion, this is a false problem.
1st point: to detect gifted and talented in companies, you have to find one. The others are not far away. It’s a question of antennas and mutual affinity between gifted.
2nd point: as soon as you have answered the question “why and for what” to integrate a gifted person, the question of “how” no longer arises. Integration is effortless. It becomes more complex if the gifted is not in the right place.
