If you look up the word “genius” in the dictionary, you’ll find an array of definitions:

1. extraordinary intellectual power especially as manifested in creative activity

2. a person who is exceptionally intelligent or creative, either generally or in some particular respect.

3. a single strongly marked capacity or aptitude

When I think about the term however, I find myself wondering how valuable it is to actually be smarter than most people if one does not put that intellect to good use helping others.

When you think of the greatest composers of all time, the word “genius” is applied to them readily.  Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, and Mozart are almost always referred to geniuses, and rightly so.

Still—and this is The Lightbulb Moment for me—of what value would it have been for them to have such intellect if they had never composed?  I cannot imagine anything that even comes close to the sense of joy and fulfillment I get each time I sit down at the piano to play one of their works, and the spiritual and emotional void I would experience had these incredible compositions never been written. 

What’s more, I also think about all of the musicians, conductors, other composers and listeners who would not have had the chance to discover their own gifts because this genius had never been put on paper and shared with the world.

Being a genius, or having a talent for creating beauty of any kind, achieves its greatest value when it is used to make the world a better place, and improve the lives of others.  It’s hard to listen to a Beethoven sonata or a Chopin waltz without somehow feeling that one’s own life has been made a little bit happier, a bit less stressful. That is the true gift of genius: sharing the talent it gives in order to help people discover their own gifts. One often reads that “To whom much is given, much is required,” and I feel that great talent of any kind places an obligation on the individual with that talent to cultivate it in every way possible in order to share it with a world that has the potential to be made better because of it.

Perhaps the term “genius” does not apply to everyone in terms of natural intellect or ability. Still, without sharing one’s talents with the world, however simple or great such talents might be, one forfeits the chance to leave the world a better place than she found it.

Genius is not just the capacity to discover new ideas and new insights for oneself.  It is also about the ability to help others discover their own talents, and how to use them to the fullest extent possible.

All of us have a gift to share. Everything from making a good cup of coffee to painting a masterpiece can have the ability to brighten a person’s life, and inspire them to look inside themselves to see what their talents are.

Perhaps then true genius is less about what is best in you, and more about how to use that best to help other people discover theirs.