The "ri" in irid

At irid, we believe that the key to learning and creation lies in relational intelligence: when people deeply connect with themselves and those around them, it opens the door to great work and growth.

But what do we mean by "relational intelligence"?

    The irid theory of relational intelligence places emphasis on an individual's range and ability to deftly navigate within a number of spectra:

  • Nonjudgment to discernment (said another way: creation to refinement, support to challenge)
  • Emotional & intuitive to rational & empirical (said another way: enchantment to materialism, sponteneity to structure)
  • Collective to ego (said another way: giving space to taking space)

We believe that the poles of these spectra each bring their own benefits to collaboration, and appropriately harnessing them can unlock a new level of generativity. The greatest artists and thinkers possess the ability to both encourage unbounded, blue-sky imagination, and to incisively refine ideas to unearth nuggets of gold; both the capacity to be swept up in romantic enchantment and dream up new worlds, and the skill to apply a scientific materialism to bring them to fruition; both the kindness to help others shine, as well as the confidence to share their own unique gifts.

To know when - in what context, in which moments - to fluidly embody each skill is the great discernment that turns these individual strengths into masterful relating.

In a world where communities often consistently prize one end of these spectra over the other, the irid ethos defies this binary and its implied hierarchy to aver that all modes of relating are important, necessary, and equal. It is in balance and discernment that we are able to find richness.

At irid, we extend an invitation to every individual to reflect on their own range of relational skills. On the spectrum between taking a supportive posture to adopting one of challenge, what is the range you are comfortable occupying? Do you more often rely on somatic and intuitive ways of knowing, or do you default to scientific epistemologies?

How can you push yourself a little further to access the gifts that await at both horizons?