After reading Malcolm Gladwell’s book – Outliers – I have started looking at things with a different perspective. Here is my hypothesis on the elements that can make one successful in life.
IQ
Whenever we see someone who has “arrived in life” we presume they have a high IQ – but this is not the only criteria. Having cart loads of IQ is good to have, but it does not guarantee success if the below 3 are not present in good measure
EQ
Emotional Quotient : The person who laughs at the face of danger; the one who lost badly but has the courage to try once again, or take a different path; the go-to guy at work when the experts give up and report sick on crisis situations; this is the guy every project manager wants in his team. EQ is a must have – not just a good to have.
CQ
Creative Quotient : The guys with a high CQ spruce up dull meetings; their emails are all a joy to read; their stand-up updates are fun – and the team tries hard to match him – and the whole team bonds & has fun day in and day out. When our man does not turn up for work – the project feels like a funeral home ( ok I am over stretching a bit here 🙂 ) – but I guess you get the picture.
PQ
Political Quotient : Bite your lower lip & accept the fact – you have to play the game ( there is a better term for this – hehe). In large organizations – PQ determines if you get a cubicle near the window or a seat next to your boss’s boss – it is a hard life and it gets harder for the ones with zero PQ.
In startups politics is non existent – who has time for such games anyway – however having a good PQ is essential for customer relationship management – and also to see the team through during some tough times.
In summary – the schooling taught and measured our IQ – post schooling – the real world expects EQ, CQ & PQ – in some combination or the other – and this will decide how far one can go in life.
Success = a(IQ) + b(EQ) + c(CQ) + d(PQ)
And the above formula is open sourced under GPL – use it freely, improve the a, b, c & ds and enjoy sweet success. You are welcome 🙂
[Img courtesy : http://malefis.u-strasbg.fr/site/images/homer-brain.jpg ]
