Universally the state of economy/society is bringing a high degree of pressure on individuals to handle difficult, adverse conditions and hardships. To the list of desirable qualities, a new measurement has been added: the tribulation quotient, which measures the ability of people to handle the hardships, the difficulties and the adversities of work and life.
A high TQ indicates the ability of a person to handle problems with speed and efficiency, minimizing damage and showing a high aptitude in disaster management. TQ shows how an individual looks at and handles challenging situations and his ability to think his way out of the stickiest corners. Typically, high TQ scores reveal the readiness by people to take charge and handle responsibility. People with such scores will rarely blame others for delays and glitches. Those with low scores will generally find themselves defeated, distressed and disoriented when faced with similar problems in similar circumstances. They give up and are content (though resentful) to let others do what they can not.
Solving logical or strategic problems involves the use of rational intelligence. Psychologists who devised tests to measure rational intelligence termed their measurement as “Intelligence Quotient (IQ)”, their hypothesis being that higher the IQ more is rational intelligence. Initially the IQ included only verbal and mathematical-logical capabilities. However, Gardner’s 1983 book “Frames of Mind” refuted the narrow IQ view and extended the concept to include spatial capacity, physical fluidity, musical capability, inter-personal intelligence, intra-personal intelligence etc. According to Gardner, intelligence has 8 dimensions: Factual, Arithmetic, Analytic, Linguistic, Athletic, Artistic, Intuitive & Emotional.
The operative word in his view of intelligence was multiple. While the utility of IQ in identifying potential performers is not disputed, according to psychologists IQ contributes only about 20% to the factors that determine life’s success, which leaves 80% to other forces. As Gardner observes “One’s ultimate niche in society is determined largely by non-IQ factors, ranging from social class to luck”.
In the mid-1990s, Daniel Goleman popularized the Emotional Quotient (EQ) – a degree of emotional intelligence, awareness of one’s own and other people’s feelings such as empathy, compassion, motivation and the ability to respond to pain or pleasure appropriately. His basic hypothesis was that for an effective use of IQ, EQ is a necessity. He writes: “In a sense we have two brains, two minds – and two different kind of intelligence, rational and emotional. How we do in life is determined by both, not just IQ. Emotional Intelligence is about recognizing what makes people more effective. It is about positive relationship. According to Hay Research, nearly 30% of a company’s bottom line is locked in discretionary efforts (EI stuff).
The millennium contribution in the area of intelligence was from Danah Zohar and Ian Marshall who coined the term “SQ” for “Spiritual Intelligence”. They argue that SQ is the basic foundation for an effective use of EQ and IQ. They also refer to it as the soul’s intelligence. While rational, logical thinking gives one’s IQ, and the associated habit-bound, pattern recognizing emotive thinking gives one the EQ, the creative, insightful, rule-making, rule-breaking thinking with which we reframe and transform our previous thinking gives one the SQ. Just as whole can be greater than the sum of its parts, SQ allows one to add a larger, deeper and richer context to the present. Zohar explains “It is our ultimate intelligence. IQ and EQ, cleverness and empathy, are not enough. Otherwise, why would so many clever, empathetic people feel there is emptiness at the centre of their lives?”
Although being spiritually intelligent is not the same as being religious. “Many actively and vociferously religious people have a very low SQ,” says Zohar. Neurologists have identified a “God Spot” in our brain that triggers our need to search for meaning in life. And, with the decline of conventional religion, Zohar says we are seeking this meaning in our working lives instead - no surprise really, when most of us spend more than 40 hours a week there.
Zohar believes that people with spiritual intelligence have the ability to assess whether one course of action or life path is more meaningful than another, and plan their future and solve problems in a way that adds value to their lives. But if one doesn’t have it already, how does he develop it? If you are suffering from American Beauty syndrome: Stuck in a job you hate, wondering why you drag yourself there for five days a week? It’s unlikely you will find the answer by having an affair with someone half your age or giving up your career to work in a fast food joint as Kevin Spacey did in the film.
Zohar says it all comes down to developing a set of principles that you believe in and that you can apply to all areas of your life. Different personality types will have different principles, she says. If you are artistic, a writer or interior decorator, then your deepest principle might be the joy in creation or achievement. If you are an “investigative” type person, such as an academic or doctor, then your principles will center on finding the solutions to the problems. If you are enterprising, such as a business executive, you will be motivated by loyalty and assuming leadership. And if you are Zohar describes as “conventional”, such as computer operator or accountant, your principles will center on building “kinship within the group”.
The challenge is how to identify, measure and improve our SQ, and thereby effectively use our EQ and IQ? The British work guru Nick Williams’s book The Work We Were Born to Do could be a self-help companion to Zohar’s Spiritual Intelligence: The Ultimate Intelligence. “As a society, we have valued the logic of the head over that of the heart for a couple of hundred years and people feel confused because they have everything that’s supposed to make them happy and they aren’t happy. He and Zohar agree there is a work we were all born to do. But it should have two qualities: we should enjoy it and it should help others.
A high TQ indicates the ability of a person to handle problems with speed and efficiency, minimizing damage and showing a high aptitude in disaster management. TQ shows how an individual looks at and handles challenging situations and his ability to think his way out of the stickiest corners. Typically, high TQ scores reveal the readiness by people to take charge and handle responsibility. People with such scores will rarely blame others for delays and glitches. Those with low scores will generally find themselves defeated, distressed and disoriented when faced with similar problems in similar circumstances. They give up and are content (though resentful) to let others do what they can not.
Solving logical or strategic problems involves the use of rational intelligence. Psychologists who devised tests to measure rational intelligence termed their measurement as “Intelligence Quotient (IQ)”, their hypothesis being that higher the IQ more is rational intelligence. Initially the IQ included only verbal and mathematical-logical capabilities. However, Gardner’s 1983 book “Frames of Mind” refuted the narrow IQ view and extended the concept to include spatial capacity, physical fluidity, musical capability, inter-personal intelligence, intra-personal intelligence etc. According to Gardner, intelligence has 8 dimensions: Factual, Arithmetic, Analytic, Linguistic, Athletic, Artistic, Intuitive & Emotional.
The operative word in his view of intelligence was multiple. While the utility of IQ in identifying potential performers is not disputed, according to psychologists IQ contributes only about 20% to the factors that determine life’s success, which leaves 80% to other forces. As Gardner observes “One’s ultimate niche in society is determined largely by non-IQ factors, ranging from social class to luck”.
In the mid-1990s, Daniel Goleman popularized the Emotional Quotient (EQ) – a degree of emotional intelligence, awareness of one’s own and other people’s feelings such as empathy, compassion, motivation and the ability to respond to pain or pleasure appropriately. His basic hypothesis was that for an effective use of IQ, EQ is a necessity. He writes: “In a sense we have two brains, two minds – and two different kind of intelligence, rational and emotional. How we do in life is determined by both, not just IQ. Emotional Intelligence is about recognizing what makes people more effective. It is about positive relationship. According to Hay Research, nearly 30% of a company’s bottom line is locked in discretionary efforts (EI stuff).
The millennium contribution in the area of intelligence was from Danah Zohar and Ian Marshall who coined the term “SQ” for “Spiritual Intelligence”. They argue that SQ is the basic foundation for an effective use of EQ and IQ. They also refer to it as the soul’s intelligence. While rational, logical thinking gives one’s IQ, and the associated habit-bound, pattern recognizing emotive thinking gives one the EQ, the creative, insightful, rule-making, rule-breaking thinking with which we reframe and transform our previous thinking gives one the SQ. Just as whole can be greater than the sum of its parts, SQ allows one to add a larger, deeper and richer context to the present. Zohar explains “It is our ultimate intelligence. IQ and EQ, cleverness and empathy, are not enough. Otherwise, why would so many clever, empathetic people feel there is emptiness at the centre of their lives?”
Although being spiritually intelligent is not the same as being religious. “Many actively and vociferously religious people have a very low SQ,” says Zohar. Neurologists have identified a “God Spot” in our brain that triggers our need to search for meaning in life. And, with the decline of conventional religion, Zohar says we are seeking this meaning in our working lives instead - no surprise really, when most of us spend more than 40 hours a week there.
Zohar believes that people with spiritual intelligence have the ability to assess whether one course of action or life path is more meaningful than another, and plan their future and solve problems in a way that adds value to their lives. But if one doesn’t have it already, how does he develop it? If you are suffering from American Beauty syndrome: Stuck in a job you hate, wondering why you drag yourself there for five days a week? It’s unlikely you will find the answer by having an affair with someone half your age or giving up your career to work in a fast food joint as Kevin Spacey did in the film.
Zohar says it all comes down to developing a set of principles that you believe in and that you can apply to all areas of your life. Different personality types will have different principles, she says. If you are artistic, a writer or interior decorator, then your deepest principle might be the joy in creation or achievement. If you are an “investigative” type person, such as an academic or doctor, then your principles will center on finding the solutions to the problems. If you are enterprising, such as a business executive, you will be motivated by loyalty and assuming leadership. And if you are Zohar describes as “conventional”, such as computer operator or accountant, your principles will center on building “kinship within the group”.
The challenge is how to identify, measure and improve our SQ, and thereby effectively use our EQ and IQ? The British work guru Nick Williams’s book The Work We Were Born to Do could be a self-help companion to Zohar’s Spiritual Intelligence: The Ultimate Intelligence. “As a society, we have valued the logic of the head over that of the heart for a couple of hundred years and people feel confused because they have everything that’s supposed to make them happy and they aren’t happy. He and Zohar agree there is a work we were all born to do. But it should have two qualities: we should enjoy it and it should help others.
No comments:
Post a Comment