Yesterday at the company 5th anniversary celebration, we were treated to a display of "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" Five of our senior leaders competed against five actual fifth graders to answer six questions that were posed by an actual fifth grade teacher. The fifth graders managed to win a close match.
While we all laughed at the spectacle, this entertainment really did provide a valid lesson. No matter how intelligent we might be in any one subject, there is no one who can possibly know everything.
An example of that was a question in math. The executives were asked which anniversary would be a "sesquicentennial." That is not exactly an everyday word. If an actual fifth grade class was studying the subject and discussing these terms, the students would definitely be at a huge advantage over their competition. Personally, I had seen the word recently because my church is celebrating its 150th anniversary. It's odd how random fate can sometimes be.
The question for the executives in science asked about the three types of rock. I have been taking my boys to many science museums and knew two immediately: igneous and metamorphic. The third one just kept dancing outside my recall. I knew it began with an "s" but I just couldn't pull it together in the 30 seconds. When they revealed "sedimentary" I shook my head because I know I should have known that.
I've learned that there are actual memory competitions. People compete from across the world. One of the tests is a random shuffle where they are shown three cards at a time and they must repeat the order back at the end. The competitors often discuss using the analogy of a house filled with items. They assign crazy values to the cards to help them remember more precisely. I can tell you that if my mind is like a house, there are many things tucked away in old boxes in the back that have long since been forgotten!
Some of the worst mistakes we can make are when we assume that we have more knowledge than we do. It often pays to adopt a humble approach and accept the limits of our knowledge.
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