Back in my days the term intelligence quotient ( IQ ) was all over the place. It was first used in France to test students for finding out who needs special care. Popularised in World war I (WWI) the concept then gained global fame and acceptance. It is used to denote how smart a person is in terms of problem solving and abstract thinking. A series of questions is designed to sort out how well you can perform in basically two categories of cognitive capacity : Fixing a problem based on recollection of memorised facts ( Crystallised intelligence) and solving new problem based on logic and reason ( Fluid intelligence). The test then generates a number compared to the age matched population and assign a category like average, genius etc. All these may sound solid and unquestionable but recently we have started to see the pitfalls of the IQ test as a single most important predictor of success. First of all, the whole concept of IQ was based on the premise that, if we can test an individual on some topics that evaluates there specific brain capacities that will give us a representative idea of their “General intelligence (G factor)” that governs a persons future success as an individual in the society which has been proven to be wrong. Secondly, if you take a bunch of really successful people and test their IQ their score is expected to be above average but the reverse is not always true. A person can fail to achieve their desired goal in life despite having a high IQ score and here comes the importance of EQ. Daniel Goleman, in his famous book “Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ” published in 1995, had proposed that IQ is not enough as a denominator of success in life. We need social skills and emotional intelligence on top of that reasoning skill. Emotional intelligence means how well a person can recognise and manage his own emotions as well as others. Having a high score in IQ test wont help someone if he is not capable of handling his own emotions that might come in his own way in the form of self sabotage. Every one of us know what to do and in many cases how to do that but when it calls for action, a thousand reasons may pop up justifying not doing that. This procrastination is but a simple example from many counterintuitive emotions that one need to conquer in his path to success. If IQ is considered as a tool box, its best use can only be guaranteed by strong emotional intelligence. To maximise or even properly use the brains capacity to do wonderful things one need soft skills like discipline, motivation, persistence, pursuing betterment etc without which the functionality of the tool may never see its cherished result. One of my favourite quote relevant to this is “ Hard work will always beat talent when talent don’t work hard”. Before 1970, IQ was the gold standard in classifying people in almost everything like from school to military but now we know while a good IQ can make you hired in a job a low EQ would probably get you fired. Interestingly, higher intelligence doesn’t also mean a higher pay-check rather studies have shown the correlation between income and intelligence is very weak.
Wondering why? People with low EQ cant navigate their emotions in a mature and healthy way and are insensitive to the emotions of others which in turn make it difficult for them to be a good team member.
Lastly, both IQ and EQ are two complementary co factor that are required in personal and social growth. We should embrace the importance of emotional intelligence and make active effort to develop it.
Emotions can get in the way OR get you on the way -Mavis Mazhura