In a recent NYTimes Op-Ed, columnist David Brooks says that most of us live our lives thinking that we are playing baseball when we are really playing soccer. Baseball games are won when players excel at individual activities such as pitching a strike or hitting a home run. Soccer games are won when players use the field and the positions of other players to best advantage.
Contrary to the common belief that we individually choose our views, career path and friends, Brooks posits that our choices are very much influenced by the people in our networks. For example, we absorb ideas and behaviors from each other the same way we catch a cold. Moreover, research shows that our job opportunities and capacity for innovation depend on the structure and size of our social networks. Research also shows that our behavior and conceptions of ourselves are shaped by the people around us. From this, Brooks concludes that "awareness of the landscape of reality is the highest form of wisdom.... Genius is in practice perceiving more than conscious reasoning."