Dr. Matthew Kutz is a living reminder that we should never underestimate the power of
daydreaming, or of following our curiosity wherever it leads.For Kutz, School of Human Movement, Sport
and Leisure Studies, following up on his musings about what constitutes leadership skills has won him
honorable mention in an international competition for books on leadership and led to his being invited
to other countries to share his philosophy.His book, "Contextual Intelligence: Smart Leadership for
a Constantly Changing World," was named tops in the innovation and cutting-edge perspective
category by the University of San Diego’s Department of Leadership Studies.Which is ironic, Kutz notes,
since the concepts he identifies are not new and are in fact almost universally recognized.But the way
he has conceptualized and organized them into usable components has, as proponent Procter &
Gamble calls it, the "it factor," and has made the book the go-to guide for such world-class
organizations as Procter & Gamble, ProMedica, AirTel, and for executives of other business and
civic groups."It’s been a whirlwind for me," Kutz said.The wisdom expressed by
"contextual intelligence" is perhaps what sets his apart from other leadership guides, Kutz
speculated. As he was quantifying and naming the familiar qualities we tend to associate with
leadership, he kept coming back to a set of characteristics with no defined name, but which are referred
to as far back as the Old Testament, in a description of one of the 12 tribes of Israel as "having
such a knowledge of the times to know what Israel should do," Kutz said."I eventually came to
call this quality of knowing what to do with the information you have ‘contextual intelligence. It
really resonates with people because it’s a knowledge we all have in our gut but just didn’t have the
language to articulate it."He encourages people to "scratch their itches" and pursue
their mind’s meanderings."We have our best ideas when we’re not being paid to have them," Kutz
said. "When we get into that state of daydreaming the lines blur and time goes away and we can
access our experiences in a different way, what I call ‘keeping those files open." Jung referred to
it as ‘synchronicity’: learning to apply meaning to unrelated experiences."(Story provided by BGSU
Office of Marketing and Communications.)