Simplifying complex issues, empathy, self-confidence, self-awareness, emotional balance, adaptability and so on, might be handier than those intellectual certificates during VUCA times.
KENNETH LEAN
High academic grades, Ivy League alumnus, sophisticated language, clear articulation of thoughts, member of an affluent family and what else is required to hire a new employee? After a few years spent in the corporate rollercoaster, what happens when some of them start leading? Many of the CXOs that I interact with worry a lot when their high potential talent don’t show up when times get tough. This particularly leads me to wonder – what actually happens in the journey of these young prospective leaders? The real differentiation I speculate thus between the fulfilled and unfulfilled talent is, (the) emotional stability. Intellect can take you to a certain distance, but what offers you wings to fly through uncertain climatic conditions are emotional quotient (EQ) and experience. Usually, the best experience is harboured when you have a mind and heart to face the setbacks.
A friend of mine while sharing a retreat experience coined the title of this post for me. He was sharing the respective facilitator’s view of the trauma of handling high expectations that many kids go through in the short span of their formative years. This made me think, and led me through various leadership development conversations. I came across a first group of individuals who were cautiously led on an academic intellectual highway that had only green lights and not even a single pothole; life to them was like a fixed formula.
The second type was those who chose the dirt track circuit of life, which had potholes more than anything else. On further inquiring these two categories of people, the ones who chose the dirt track, were the ones who climbed the slippery corporate ladder with relative ease; the emotional quotient (EQ) was evidently more important the intellectual quotient (IQ). Still not so convincing? Well, have you not seen many an intellectual giant shudder and shiver and shrink to being an emotional pygmy when asked to confront the real life situations at the work place? The easy way out of such situations, have resignations ceremoniously in order; because their big certificates are the surety for the next job. But unfortunately, this drama also has a short life span. Most popularly parents/institutions still focus on spoon-feeding that tends to generously equip their kids with intellectual skills, but forget to impart the much-needed invaluable life coping skills. This certainly pans out to be the difference in a competitive workspace. Leaders are born to those who are ready to give that life coping skills that emotionally equip their kids/wards.
Conflicts, confrontation, bad news, failures, bad markets, market commotions and work life balance are some of the tough situations that a leader routinely encounters in the work place during VUCA times. Under examination of the above tough situations, doesn’t the leader need to be more than well equipped? Don’t we take these tough situations for granted at times? Well, imagine the mental strength and emotional stamina required to wade through this emotional jungle all in one day. I am sure you agree with me that it takes a lot out of a person to make things happen. However, simplifying complex issues, empathy, ambiguity management, influencing skills, self-confidence, self-awareness, emotional balance, healthy competitiveness, adaptability and so on, might be handier than those intellectual certificates. The value of the academic degrees become null and void when one does not equip oneself with the just said personality traits that are waiting to be applied. Homes and universities need to take cognizance of these aspects of growth.
Recently during a development session, a leader told me the change that he wanted to see in his life, is his manager. On asking him about what about his manager worries him so much, he promptly cited various incidents on how the manager could be rude, insincere, judgmental, provocative, sarcastic and what not. This individual is not alone; many of us encounter such managers in our work places. But, what makes these managers so defensive and arrogant? Is there enough of space and time to accommodate such damaging managers? In this sense, the saying of people leaving their managers, than the organisation is so true. Some of the people leave the organisations under the pretext of better opportunities but the unsaid reason is usually their manager. Isn’t it?
The above described managers usually take a shield of their experience and fat degrees to occupy those valuable seats, but with little EQ they make the seats so small. These emotional pygmies not only stifle growth of people below them but also erode organisation brand and direction. Organisations need to be careful while hiring people for their academics (and academics alone). Thorough assessment of their formative years – college life, hobbies and personalities are vital filters to consider.
There is a difference between learned men and studied men. Plato said, “All learning has an emotional base”; so, we can prudently infer that EQ is one of the most important elements that align leaders to an organisation.
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