From the editor: Leaders of the packs

Which is more intimidating – someone with a big brain or someone with big muscles? Both have an authority when they walk into a room, an aura that says that they’re not used to being questioned. Does this mean that if you get a Top Dog from each tribe (Brain and Brawn) together they simply square off without a second though, neither acquiescing? And then who comes out on top? Maybe the answer to that comes down to how many of the other people in the room have allegiance behind one or the other tribe, to set the tone of the room.

I’m not saying that the super-clever or the super-strong are naturally superior to the rest of us, I’ve just noticed an unmistakeable confidence that seems to come from a place so deep you’d swear it was in their bones. Perhaps that ‘swagger’ comes from practising the discipline you need to be a leader in either field.

It reminds me of something my mother said to me in an offhand moment when I was a kid and she a mature student at art college. She was remembering meeting my father’s old university pals. “You know, it was his friends who got a 2:1 that I found acted the most clever,” I knew that she meant something akin to ‘superior’ or ‘using long words a lot’. “The ones who got a First were lovely. They were curious, and wanted to ask questions of you.” That’s probably why they got Firsts, I thought. The cleverest people aren’t trying to show you how smart they are, they’re trying to learn even more.

There’s a ‘brawn’ version of this too – The Karate Kid’s Mr Miyagi. It’s not about getting the big guns out, it’s about discipline and growth. And curiosity. What’s that? What happens when I do this? And what shall we do next?

Victoria Nangle
editorial@thelatest.co.uk