"too much college and not enough kindergarten" Daniel Goleman
This seems to be a debate on many of the blogs that write about EI (Emotional Intelligence). Daniel Goleman, one of the leaders on the subject of EI discusses two friends from college, one a B- student ends up running a successful business, the other got perfect scores on the SAT's and ends up working for himself installing home computer systems. Daniel brings up a valid point; if IQ is the indicator of success, like most companies focus on in the hiring process, then wouldn't you expect the results to be the opposite?
EI continues to grow in popularity as another indicator of success. Many believe it is more important than IQ. Daniel's blog gets comments arguing both pro and con if IQ is more or less important. I guess depending on where one lands on the IQ scale might bias their position.
Having conducted hundreds of senior level executive searches our position is that it is a balance of both that is important. Too much of anything is not good. We have all met very smart people that can't manage themselves, let alone others. They are very good technically or with whatever skills are required to perform the job. But put them at the head of a corporation and it is chaos or nothing ever gets done.
We believe that as one moves up the corporate ladder there occurs a shift from IQ to EI. Obviously one has to have a high enough IQ to get on the ladder, but that IQ will only carry one so far. As the day to day activities shift away from the technical more towards people and leadership, the successful exec must be able to shift from IQ to EI. They must be able to motivate others, resolve conflict without alienating people, bring teams together to accomplish a goal when everyone isn't in sync with the goal and communicate a vision that people get excited about. Knowing when to bring down the hammer, the right way to bring it down, who to bring it down on and having them thank you for hitting them with the hammer is EI at its best.
So where on you on the debate between IQ and EI? Have you experienced a boss with too much of one and not enough of the other? Which one do you believe is most important?
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1 response so far ↓
1 Norman Wolfe // Mar 2, 2008 at 2:06 am
A wonderful article on IQ versus EI( or EQ as some call it). I agree that there are different roles each plays in ones career. As a matter of fact there is an emerging new intellignece SQ or Spiritual Intelligence.
I have talked on our blog about the three stages in the evolution of the modern corporation. The first being the Machine stage, the second being the humanistic stage and now we are entering the third stage, the spiritual stage. (Please do not confuse the word spiritual with anything to do with religion or any spiritual path).
The spirtual phase is the integrative stage bringing together the previous two stages and seeing the organization as a holistic system driven by a sense of meaning and purpose. (Go to http://www.quantumleadersblog.com for more on this).
What I believe is that IQ was the dominant required skill for the first stage, EQ was brought out as a critical skill for the seconed stage and the third stage will require SQ. The best leaders will be those who are strong in all three forms of intelligence.
Norman Wolfe
CEO
Quantum Leaders
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