Mid-Life Intelligence: Fluid / Crystal - Part 1
This week’s post is a little different. My standard operating mode is to let ideas simmer before I share them. Even then, I share with one or two people first to get reactions before I ever consider something ready for sharing with the world. But, today I’m very deliberately doing the opposite: putting this thought out there before it’s even had 48 hours to stew.
I have two reasons.
I want to push myself against that natural instinct to polish and perfect before publishing.
I want to share this early glimpse so I’m practically obligated to come back with a Part 2, once I’ve had more time to understand it.
With all that in mind, let me paint the scene for what prompted the post in the first place…
On Monday morning, at 8am Eastern Time / 8pm China Standard Time, I led a call for members of our team at 12 Stars Media and a woman in Shanghai (yep, lol, we’ll just continue last week’s theme of exploring Chinese culture). You see, we’re producing a video about how she spearheaded a leadership program for middle-aged employees. The program grew out of an observation: this global company’s Chinese operations offered plenty of development opportunities for early-career professionals and senior leaders, but lacked programs for mid-career employees. So, they created a pilot program to bridge the gap!
But, what turned out to be most impactful wasn’t the career skills. It was the community.
As she explained further, she said something that was so interesting to me personally, that I started scribbling in my notebook, separate from the notes that I was making about the project, because I wanted to follow up on and find out more about this concept.
She explained that while the professional development side of the program was valuable, it quickly became secondary. The real impact was the sense of belonging it created - giving employees in this age group space to share what was happening in their lives and find common ground in their challenges.
Conversations often shifted toward mental, emotional, and family well-being. Around age 40, many were experiencing major life changes: losing parents or older loved ones, raising teenagers, and redefining what family care looks like. Dreams that once drove their early careers started to feel less urgent.
She even said, “I realized I was spending less time chasing dreams and more time just trying to live a normal life.” That’s when she mentioned reading a book about the difference between fluid and crystal intelligence and that’s the concept that really caught my attention.
Settling into mid-life myself, hearing about a mid-life shift in how we think and how we can best flex our mental muscles was like someone suddenly turned on the lights.
A visualization of Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence over Lifespan from simplypsyhcology.org
Right now, my understanding is still really fresh and baseline: fluid intelligence is the ability to solve novel problems, reason abstractly, and adapt to new situations, peaking in young adulthood and declining with age, while crystal intelligence is the accumulation of knowledge, skills, and facts learned over a lifetime and tends to increase with age. But, I can tell there’s a lot more to unpack here, and that’s exactly what I want to dig into and report back on for Part 2 of this post.
Next Steps:
🧠 Think about it - What are some examples of fluid and crystal intelligence in your life? Do you find yourself tapping into one or the other more often?
💬 Talk about it - Have you heard of this concept of fluid and crystal intelligence? Maybe you have some recommendations for where I can learn more about it? Share your understanding by leaving a comment or replying to one of my emails.
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