Crystallised intelligence is the ability to use experience, knowledge, language, and learned wisdom to navigate work and life. Photo: upjohn.org.
Johanna Macis maintains that far from going into decline with the passing of years, older workers are able to utilise a ”deeper brilliance” that only improves as time goes on.
We often hear that ageing is a process of decline characterised by slower reflexes, fading memory, and reduced mental sharpness — but what if that’s only part of the truth?
What if growing older also reveals a deeper brilliance, one that doesn’t fade but grows clearer, richer, and more powerful with time?
As Steve Jobs suggested in his Stanford commencement address a few decades ago: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward.”
In other words, the longer you’ve lived, the more ”backward” you possess. That brilliance is called crystallised intelligence, and it is one of the mind’s most underrated superpowers.
Unlike fluid intelligence (which deals with quick thinking, problem-solving, and short-term memory), crystallised intelligence is the ability to use experience, knowledge, language, and learned wisdom to navigate work and life.
Here’s the beautiful truth: Crystallised intelligence doesn’t decline with age, it improves.
Crystallised intelligence is defined as the accumulated wisdom of your life. It includes your vocabulary and understanding of language, the insights you’ve gained through experience and cultural knowledge, and emotional understanding.
Also included are judgment, pattern recognition, and perspective — and the ability to make connections and teach others.
It is why an elder may take longer to solve a puzzle but can offer profound advice with just a few words. It’s why a mentor’s guidance can be more valuable than a textbook. It’s not about speed — it’s about depth.
Crystallised intelligence expands as you move through life: every mistake becomes a lesson stored; every relationship teaches you more about love, boundaries, and compassion.
Every job or challenge becomes part of a library of strategies, resilience, and practical wisdom, and every book, culture or conversation deepens your ability to relate and understand.
Unlike muscles or quick reflexes, this kind of intelligence thrives on reflection, storytelling, and perspective — qualities that mature over time.
We live in a culture obsessed with youth, speed, and innovation, but the world also needs elders who offer guidance; teachers who simplify the complex; leaders who make wise, long-view decisions; and parents and mentors who model emotional intelligence.
Crystallised intelligence isn’t just useful, it’s essential for a balanced and compassionate society. It’s the kind of brilliance that solves conflicts, builds bridges, and holds communities together.
Even though it naturally grows with age, you can nourish it intentionally by doing the following:
Reflect often: Make time to pause and ask: What did I learn from this experience? How can I use it moving forward?
Teach and share stories: Teaching others or mentoring deepens your own learning. Sharing your experiences helps both you and others grow.
Stay curious: Read, explore, ask questions. Every new insight adds to your inner library.
Practise perspective-taking: Wisdom is seeing beyond your own view. Ask how someone else would see this?
Trust your lived experience: You don’t need to have the fastest answer. You have something better — lived truth.
Don’t let the world define intelligence by quick answers or youthful speed. Crystallised intelligence is a slow burn — it accumulates, condenses, and refines over time.
So, when someone asks: “Aren’t you worried about getting older?” Smile and say: “Not at all. I’m just getting wiser.”
Johanna Macis is a certified career coach and learning adviser specialising in guiding senior executives and mid-career professionals through career transitions, particularly in the technology industry.
