Flexibility

A cartoon sketching of  a fool can be found in the dictionary right next to the definition of stubbornness; the two inextricably go hand-in-hand.  The quintessence of intelligent people, other than a requisite turbo-charged memory, greased-up neural circuits, and acute senses, is flexibility.  Yes, flexibility!  An individual who does not consider all available possibilities—who hurriedly makes up his/her mind based on limited data and then intransigently sets this opinion in concrete—can never be labeled as intelligent.  Intelligence demands a certain level of flexibility, of malleability, of plasticity…..and stubborn people obviously do not meet this fundamental prerequisite.  You must consider all possible options—not necessarily form a consensus from them, but consider all of them nonetheless—before arriving at a fact-based conclusion.  Stubborn people are unable or unwilling to do this, and that’s the reason you’ll never find a connaturally bullheaded person on the list of our planet’s most intelligent individuals.