Yes, but presumably in those long pauses, a faster thinker would have time to consider more possible replies, make predictions on how the audience would receive them, and generally make more adjustments and improvements than a slower thinker.
In other words, faster cognition would probably help you formulate a slow, considered reply just as much as it would help you answer more quickly. That might be especially helpful in a public speech to a group asking unplanned questions.
I agree with freyr, though, that quality of cognition/ideation matters more than speed, and doubt that 'thinking speed' is necessarily correlated to better thought output.
Like IQ itself, faster basic cognition probably means something, but I don't think anybody knows what it means or how (or even if) it relates to "intelligence" (whatever that means).
In my personal experience, I have seen more great ideas and solutions come from "weird thinkers" than "fast thinkers". I realize that sentence does reduce to the cliche, "Think outside the box, bro," but it seems true over the course of all that I have observed in my own life.
In that example, it may also simply have been that Jobs had been prepped (or prepped himself) thoroughly with answers to a lot of likely questions.
I don't put a lot of credence to the speed thing here. I know one senior executive who made a point of writing down question on cards when he was asked them live at an event. Which I always thought was a rather clever approach to 1.) Make sure he understood the question correctly and 2.) To give himself some time to formulate the best response.
In other words, faster cognition would probably help you formulate a slow, considered reply just as much as it would help you answer more quickly. That might be especially helpful in a public speech to a group asking unplanned questions.
I agree with freyr, though, that quality of cognition/ideation matters more than speed, and doubt that 'thinking speed' is necessarily correlated to better thought output.
Like IQ itself, faster basic cognition probably means something, but I don't think anybody knows what it means or how (or even if) it relates to "intelligence" (whatever that means).
In my personal experience, I have seen more great ideas and solutions come from "weird thinkers" than "fast thinkers". I realize that sentence does reduce to the cliche, "Think outside the box, bro," but it seems true over the course of all that I have observed in my own life.