Intelligence is always associated with the kid who always got A’s. The kid who always became number 1. Back in high school, for the four years, we had the same student topping the class always. The one time he became second, we had this evil smile in our hearts and minds. Stop viewing me as the devil, we had a perfect reason – for once.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, intelligence is defined as the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. Brittanica defines it as the mental quality that consists of the abilities to learn from experience, adapt to new situations, understand and handle abstract concepts, and use knowledge to manipulate one’s environment.
From “Mainstream Science on Intelligence” (1994), an op-ed statement in the Wall Street Journal signed by fifty-two researchers (out of 131 total invited to sign):
A very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings—”catching on,” “making sense” of things, or “figuring out” what to do.
Hence intelligence can be categorized into 3 as highlighted below:
- Intelligent Quotient (IQ)
- Emotional Quotient (EQ)
- Social Quotient (SQ)
Intelligent Quotient (IQ): this is what helps one to “know the book”, solve maths; memorize things and recall subject matters. This is what enabled my classmate to always top our class or Einstein to come up with the relativity theory.
Emotional Quotient (EQ): this is what makes someone be able to maintain peace with others; keep to time; be responsible; be honest; respect boundaries; be humble, genuine and considerate. This is typically what you want from your friend, you need someone to empathize with you. In our office, we have a colleague who has a high-level ability to understand, for the 6 months we worked with him, “That’s a good idea that needs a bit more thinking and tweaking and it’ll work” is the most negative thing I have heard him say.
Social Quotient (SQ): this is what makes people be able to build a network of friends and maintain it over a long period of time. Remember back in high school when you’re at funkies and your boy would easily talk to all the pretty ladies, easily become friends and maintain a longterm relationship with them.
People that have higher EQ and SQ tend to go farther in life than those with high IQ but low EQ and SQ. Most schools capitalize on improving IQ level while EQ and SQ are played down.
A person of high IQ can end up being employed by a person of high EQ and SQ even though the one employing has an average IQ.
Your EQ represents your character; your SQ represents your fame. Give in to habits that will improve these three Qs but more especially your EQ and SQ.
EQ and SQ make one manage better than the other. Here’s a talk from World of Business Ideas by Daniel Goleman on Strategies to become more emotionally intelligent.
Now there is a 4th one: A new paradigm
The Adversity Quotient (AQ): that makes people go through a rough patch in life and come out without losing their centres.
The AQ determines who will give up in face of troubles, who will abandon their family or who will consider suicide.
As our institutions help us acquire more knowledge in our fields of study, let us also take time to work on our emotional, social and adversity intelligence. As the video states people with empathy make great leaders.
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Featured Image is courtesy of HD Wallpapers, depicts a fictional character Dr Gregory House holding a brain. The character is from the TV Series House MD played by Hugh Laurie created by David Shore.
