Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal Post in two sentences:

Broad categories can make us believe we understand a person or problem even when they conceal the distinctions that could change our decision. Better decisions require us to examine whether we are viewing the situation at the level of resolution it actually demands.

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A recent Forbes headline promised to reveal “the most intelligent personality type.” It is an irresistible proposition because we like conclusions that allow us to place people into categories. Tell us which personality type is the most intelligent, which leadership style produces the best results or which habits successful people share, and we feel as though we understand something useful.

The research behind the article tells a more
interesting story.

In 2023, researchers Kevin Stanek and Deniz Ones published an extensive meta-analysis examining the relationship between personality and cognitive ability. They synthesized 1,325 studies involving millions of people across more than 50 countries, examining relationships between 79 personality traits and 97 cognitive abilities. Their findings showed that personality and cognitive ability are connected in ways that become visible only when we stop looking at personality through broad categories.

At the highest level, we might describe someone as conscientious, agreeable, extraverted, open or neurotic. These Big Five categories give us a way to organize our understanding, but they do not give us enough resolution to explain how a person is likely to think, learn or perform.

Conscientiousness, for example, does not have one uniform relationship with cognitive ability. The industriousness aspect was positively associated with several forms of accumulated knowledge, while traits connected to orderliness and routine did not produce the same pattern. Extraversion was not universally associated with greater cognitive ability, but its activity facet was positively connected to processing and retrieval fluency. Within agreeableness, compassion showed relationships that the broader category could conceal. Openness also became more revealing when separated into intellectual curiosity, need for cognition, imagination and aesthetic experience.

Even neuroticism requires greater resolution. Anxiety, depression, suspiciousness and uneven temper were associated with lower performance across several cognitive abilities, but treating all emotional sensitivity as one undifferentiated weakness would tell us very little about a particular person.

The Forbes article elevated industriousness as the closest answer to its question.

Yet the research does not establish one superior personality type. It reveals different combinations of traits and abilities, each affecting what people notice, how they process information, what they persist with and how effectively they use what they know.

This matters beyond personality research because we frequently mistake classification for understanding.

We call someone intelligent, difficult, resistant, creative, emotional or strategic and assume the category has explained the person. In organizations, we describe a team as unmotivated, a customer as price-sensitive or a leader as controlling. These descriptions may contain some truth, but the category is often too broad to support a sound decision.

A team described as unmotivated may include one person who does not understand the priority, another who sees no connection between effort and reward, and someone else who has learned that initiative creates more work without greater authority. Treating all three as a motivation problem will produce an intervention that may work for none of them.

The same problem appears in strategic
decision-making.

We say sales are declining, employees are disengaged or customers are hesitant. Each statement creates the feeling that the problem has been identified. Yet the decision cannot improve until we know which sales are declining, whose engagement has changed, what kind of hesitation exists and under what conditions the pattern appears.

Greater detail does not automatically produce greater understanding. We can collect enormous amounts of information and still fail to identify the distinction that matters. Resolution is the degree of detail necessary to see what could influence the decision in a way that makes the most sense.

The personality research is valuable because it demonstrates what becomes visible when broad categories are examined more closely. Industriousness, curiosity, activity, compassion and emotional stability may work together in ways that a single label cannot capture. Intelligence is neither one attribute nor the property of one personality type. It is expressed through a configuration of capabilities and tendencies that influence how a person learns, persists, adapts and applies what they know.

Before accepting that you understand a person, problem or opportunity, examine the resolution at which you are viewing it. The category may be accurate while still being too broad to guide the decision you need to make.

Strategic Reflection Prompt

Where in your current thinking are you relying on a category when the decision actually requires greater resolution?

About Giselle

Most costly decisions begin with an inaccurate understanding of the situation.

I’m Giselle Hudson. As a writer and Pre-Decision Diagnostic Advisor, I illuminate understanding so leaders can see more clearly, make wiser decisions, and build better businesses.

Through my daily Strategic Alignment Journal, I explore leadership, decision-making, and the patterns that shape organizations, helping leaders make sense of complexity before committing significant time, money, or resources.

If you could better understand one thing about your business right now, what would it be?