ARE YOU SMART OR CLEVER?

 Are you Smart or Clever?

from the article 'Are You Smart, or Clever? Here’s How to Be Both'
By Jeff Haden | May 3, 2011

For the sake of argument, let’s define smart as educated, trained, experienced, seasoned.  Smart people can evaluate a situation and determine the right thing to do.

Clever takes smart a step farther, adding insight and a dash of the unexpected. Clever people evaluate a situation, determine the smart thing to do, and then go a step farther to determine a sometimes surprising way to capitalize on an opportunity.

In business terms, smart is the guy down the hall with the MBA who analyzes and optimizes your supply chain because you assigned him the project.  Clever is the gal on the shop floor who comes forward to show how you can increase productivity 15% simply by sequencing jobs differently.  (Another true story.)

The business world is populated by millions of smart people.  Education, experience, resources — there are countless smart people.  To set yourself apart it’s not enough to simply be smart.  You also must be clever.

Fortunately, we can all be clever:  It just takes the right frame of mind.  Click to the next page to learn five ways you can proactively increase your cleverness quotient.

MY THOUGHTS

In other words, all you need to do to be smart is go to school. To be clever, you need to live a life and learn along the way.