Musings From the Edge

Just how smart was Thomas Leonard?

Very.

Smarter than anyone I've ever met. And I've met a lot of folks.

Intelligence was an important value to Thomas. It's one of the first things he noticed about a person. I even called him an 'intelligence snob' once. But then I came to realize he didn't use it to put a person down. He just appreciated the finer subtleties of high intelligence.

Back to the question...just how smart was he?

First a story...

After the success of the Las Vegas CoachVille Conference in March of 2002 with 850+ attendees, Thomas and I went back to Vegas. During the conference we worked each and every night. We weren't able to partake in any of the social activities, so we went back as sort of a mini-vacation - for pleasure, rest and relaxation this time - as a thank-you and a recovery period. We stayed for a week, still working some, but not at the speed we normally did...and mostly out by the pool.

Thomas had super-sensitive eyes and skin. He needed UV protection for his baby blues and had to stay in the shade the whole time. We were staying at the Rio in Vegas - and if you've been to the Vegas hotels, they can be a nightmare to get around. It's easy to get turned around. So Thomas and I head to the pool, but as we're getting settled he realizes he left his sun glasses in the car. I ask him, "Want me to go get them?" "No, no, I'll be fine" he says, and away he goes to get his sun glasses from the car.

20 minutes go by.....no Thomas.
30 minutes....

40 minutes and no Thomas....

I figured he went back to the room, or something, so I continue reading my book and forgot about it.....

An hour goes by and Thomas finally shows up.....sans sunglasses....and a sheepish look on his face.

Me...."You have got to be kidding me"

Sheepishly...."I can't find the car"

Laughter.

"Um, Thomas....the car is right over there"

It's even funnier because this particular parking lot was right off the pool, 50 feet from where we were lounging. But you couldn't see it for all the vegetation around the pool.

As he started to walk towards the parking lot I yelled after him.....

"Jeez, having a 160 point IQ doesn't always help does it?"

...Well, I guess it was funnier in the moment...

But yes, for the record, Thomas did have an IQ of 160 points. And if you know IQ's, that's genius level. My IQ is 130, for example. And once you get above 120, every single point actually makes a big difference. So Thomas had me beat by a mile.

So now you know how smart Thomas was, but intelligence only gets you so far in life. It won't help you find the car keys...nor the car, for that matter.

What did Thomas see in me?

Looking for the post about Thomas' passing?....it's here.

"Do you mind if I ask what Thomas saw in you?"

This is a typical question I get asked by folks. Once I put aside the small ego bruising that happens each time it's asked that way, I generally give the following glib answer....

"I don't know"

Which actually is not true at all. I do know. Very much so. And yet describing our relationship is hard to do. I'll make a feeble attempt here, but know that there is something mysterious about our relationship, almost surreal and hard to put into words. On some level it would be like asking Romeo what he saw in Juliet. (Okay a tad dramatic, but you get my point, yes? A tad dramatic? Jeez)

Let me say this, Thomas and I hit it off instantaneously. Meaning...we clicked, had energy and loved being around each other from the moment we met. It was just an easy relationship for both of us, which with Thomas, I think was somewhat rare. I didn't have to chase him down and convince him of my greatness. We just instantly knew we wanted to spend more time together.

If I had to pinpoint it, I would say one of the biggest things that allowed us to get so close is the absence of ego I have (which this posting contradicts). Sure creativity, intelligence and all that played a role as well. (Thomas didn't 'do' stupid). But bigger than that, I think was that when I was with Thomas I didn't want anything from him. I just enjoyed him. And yes, even when he was very un-enjoyable.

I'm going to go out on a limb here (what? like the rest of what I write is safe and mainstream? lol) and share that one of the biggest reasons I was attracted to Thomas....was...from a female energy point of view, he needed to be loved. I never met anyone that screamed love me more than Thomas. You couldn't be around him, or at least I couldn't, and not know that his soul was screaming for intimacy.

I picked up on it, again not intellectually so much, as energetically, the first day we spent together.

In short, Thomas seemed lonely to me.

And me being someone who gets her needs met through other people, it was a match made in heaven. (I'm kidding, but only slightly) I have tons of love to give, he needed to be loved. What else is more important in life? Seriously.

Knowing this, I made a conscious effort to show and express love to him. It took months before some of it would penetrate...but it did. I could see it. He was softening. He was opening up to me and I think to others as well. This may sound a bit contrived or even manipulative, but I promise you it wasn't. I just knew, if we were going to work together and spend time together I was going to bring a healthy dose of love to the relationship. I was going to love Thomas Leonard unconditionally no matter what happened. It may have been my number one contribution to him. We'll never really know I suppose.

While yes, we worked together on this amazing thing called CoachVille and I don't mean to imply our work wasn't amazing and it wasn't life-changing for a lot of folks (including Thomas and I), I'm trying to make a point, that it wasn't the work we did together that was special to us. That was an added bonus.

When Thomas and I were together we were happy. We laughed (I had no idea how funny Thomas till I spent day after day with him), we worked, we gave each other a hard time, we changed the world, but more important than the work, we were more than two people when we were together. There was this feeling of something greater than the both of us happening when we were in the same room. It was like individually were were/are great, fantastic people, but together the air in the room got bigger. I don't know how to explain it better than that.

So you can see, while I do have character traits and a personality that made me a prime candidate to work well with Thomas (such as....honesty, humility, humor, intelligence, energy, creativity, cynicism, and most importantly discernability -meaning I could read him well), it was something greater, something on a soul or heart level that made us such wonderful soul mates and friends.

Hope this helps.....

s

p.s. if you are interested in joining my personal R&D team you can sign up at www.susantaustin.com (i don't know enough about the blogging software to put the link right here. can anyone help me with this?)