Intelligence can be a very subjective thing. As we come to know more of the human mind’s effects on our personal and professional lives, we start to see that intelligence is much more than what is routinely captured in IQ scores, grades, standardized tests, or whether you graduated from a particular college. We have realized that things like EI (or EQ) – Emotional Intelligence (or Quotient) – is an absolute necessity to function effectively in society, make wise decisions, and succeed in interpersonal relationships.
EQ more readily captures what we’ve traditionally referred to as character, values, judgement, empathy, and heart. When people, companies, industries, and countries proceed by maximizing just the IQ side of things (i.e.., figuring out how to do complex things) but then not making thoughtful judgements about whether they should actually put those things into practice, is where we see systemic failure in our society.
What we need is a broader or holistic view of intelligence which takes into account at a minimum, the importance of emotional intelligence in overall personal effectiveness. In this way then, Holistic Intelligence = IQ + EQ. You may have a high IQ, but if you have a lower EQ, that brings down your overall intelligence and effectiveness and negatively alters how you are perceived and experienced by others. Not to mention how you experience your own life.
Alternatively, if you possess a high EQ – the proverbial warm, caring, and compassionate personality – but have a lower IQ, you may not be as effective in getting things done in your personal and professional life. The good news is that neurosocience is telling us that neither IQ or EQ is fixed, and you can improve both with focus and practice. And of course, there is no better equalizer than focus, will power, and hard work.
For our purposes in this article, let’s focus more on EQ – something that over the years has gotten less attention than IQ. But what exactly is EQ? In 2007 , Michael Akers and Grover Porter outlined an excellent definition of Emotional Intelligence in an article titled What is Emotional Intelligence (EQ)?:
Understanding the Five Categories of Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
1. Self-Awareness. The ability to recognize an emotion as it “happens” is the key to your EQ. Developing self-awareness requires tuning in to your true feelings. If you evaluate your emotions, you can manage them. The major elements of self-awareness are:
- Emotional awareness. Your ability to recognize your own emotions and their effects.
- Self-confidence. Sureness about your self-worth and capabilities.
2. Self-Regulation. You often have little control over when you experience emotions. You can, however, have some say in how long an emotion will last by using a number of techniques to alleviate negative emotions such as anger, anxiety or depression. A few of these techniques include recasting a situation in a more positive light, taking a long walk and meditation or prayer. Self-regulation involves:
- Self-control. Managing disruptive impulses
- Trustworthiness. Maintaining standards of honesty and integrity
- Conscientiousness. Taking responsibility for your own performance
- Adaptability. Handling change with flexibility
- Innovation. Being open to new ideas
3. Motivation. To motivate yourself for any achievement requires clear goals and a positive attitude. Although you may have a predisposition to either a positive or a negative attitude, you can with effort and practice learn to think more positively. If you catch negative thoughts as they occur, you can reframe them in more positive terms — which will help you achieve your goals. Motivation is made up of:
- Achievement drive. Your constant striving to improve or to meet a standard of excellence
- Commitment. Aligning with the goals of the group or organization
- Initiative. Readying yourself to act on opportunities
- Optimism. Pursuing goals persistently despite obstacles and setbacks
4. Empathy. The ability to recognize how people feel is important to success in your life and career. The more skillful you are at discerning the feelings behind others’ signals the better you can control the signals you send them. An empathetic person excels at:
- Service orientation. Anticipating, recognizing and meeting other’s needs
- Developing others. Sensing what others need to progress and bolstering their abilities
- Leveraging diversity. Cultivating opportunities through diverse people
- Political awareness. Reading a group’s emotional currents and power relationships
- Understanding others. Discerning the feelings behind the needs and wants of others
5. Social skills. The development of good interpersonal skills is tantamount to success in your life and career. In today’s always-connected world, everyone has immediate access to technical knowledge. Thus, “people skills” are even more important now because you must possess a high EQ to better understand, empathize and negotiate with others in a global economy. Among the most useful skills are:
- Influence. Wielding effective persuasion tactics
- Communication. Sending clear messages
- Leadership. Inspiring and guiding groups and people
- Change catalyst. Initiating or managing change
- Conflict management. Understanding, negotiating and resolving disagreements
- Building bonds. Nurturing instrumental relationships
- Collaboration and cooperation. Working with others toward shared goals
- Team capabilities. Creating group synergy in pursuing collective goals
How well you do in your life and career is determined by both – IQ alone is not enough; EQ also matters. In fact, psychologists generally agree that among the ingredients for success, IQ counts for roughly 10% (at best 25%); the rest depends on everything else — including EQ.
Embedded within Emotional Intelligence is Spiritual Intelligence (SI) – the ability to see the Interconnectedness or Oneness, between all beings and the natural world. Which points to our common bond and duty to each other and the planet. When we start to see how all our actions and decisions impact not just ourselves but others and then take action in line with that understanding of interconnectedness, our SI increases dramatically. Overall, I believe the EQ component of Holistic Intelligence becomes even more important as our society evolves over the next fifty years:
But this is not the only equation for intelligence out there. Here is one additional example we should consider:
Michael Scharf on his blog highlighted a new definition of intelligence created by physicist Alex Wissner-Gross which he published in a physics journal in April 2013. “A new Equation for Intelligence F = T ∇ Sτ – a Force that Maximises the Future Freedom of Action. Intelligence is defined for Mr. Wissner-Gross, as a Force with the Power to Change the World.
Describing intelligence as a physical force that maximises the future freedom of action, adds a new aspect to intelligence that is often forgotten: the power to change the world. Like many physical laws or equations the idea behind it is simple:
- Intelligence is a force that maximises the future freedom of action
- It is a force to keeps options open
- Intelligence doesn’t like to be trapped
But what is necessary to keep options open and not to be trapped? Intelligence has to to predict the future and change the world in a direction that leads to the “best possible future”. In order to predict the future, an intelligent system has to observe the world and create a model of the world. Since the future is not deterministic the prediction has to be based on some heuristics. Prediction is a kind of statistical process. In order to change the world, the intelligence has to interact with the world. Just thinking about the world, without acting, is not intelligence, because it produces no measurable force (well, sometimes it is intelligent not to act, because the physical forces drive you already in the right direction, but that is a way of optimising resources). The better it can predict the future and the better it can change the world in the desired direction, the more intelligent the system is. ~Michael Scharf
Folding the Wissner-Gross model into our Holistic Intelligence equation, we now would have HI (Holistic Intelligence) = IQ + EQ + AQ. Where AQ is your Action Quotient (as described by Wissner-Gross). I find this a very interesting model as it points out that intelligence is innately equated to action. There are a lot of people talking about things, but to investigate all options and then actually do something, get involved, and enact change is what is really required to make intelligence come to life. Overall, the model takes into account the four major components of our human existence – the Mental, Emotional, Physical, and Spiritual.
~Jay Kshatri
www.ThinkSmarterWorld.com
