EQ Trumps IQ

Driving to the airport with a Physics professor from Kansas University, I asked, "Who was the brightest student you ever taught?"  He immediately recalled a student who never took a note and didn't appear particularly engaged; when the prof asked him how he expected to do well without taking notes, the student simply said, "I understand the material you are teaching." The student went on to make perfect scores on his tests; he became known by all the profs at KU for the same odd brilliance. I then asked, "What happened to that student?"  The professor replied, "To my knowledge he was never able to hold a job.  He was unbelievably socially challenged."

Albert Einstein said, "We should take care not to make intellect our God.  It has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.  It cannot lead, it can only serve."

In the book Primal Leadership, Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee extend the theory that EQ trumps IQ.  Personal Competence is how we manage ourselves; it reflects self-awareness and self-management:  emotional self-control, transparency, adaptability, achievement, initiative, optimism.  

Social Competence determines how we manage relationships; it reflects empathy, organizational awareness, inspiration, developing others, change and conflict management, building bonds, teamwork.

Church planters have to be generalists who are good at many things.  I believe this EQ phenom is reflected by the apostle Paul when he said, "I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment..."  Romans 12:3

The book is a great read on how to become a "resonant leader" and how to manage organizational dissonance created by someone who may have a high IQ, but low EQ.

Comments

[Blake McDaniel]

God is the giver of all good things, including EQ and IQ. One does not trump the other. Both are absolutely essential. I Corinthians 12 describes the problems that arise in the body when someone believes their gifts to be superior or inferior to those of others. God has said that all gifts are needed and vital.