Saturday, October 20, 2007

Ability Quotients

For many years, IQ was the main measure of a person's capacity. Logical capacity was how you valued the candidate's mind. During the 80s and 90s that view started evolving, and today the way of evaluating a person is more wide and balanced. Below I give 3 major measures.

IQ - Intellectual Quotient:
Measures a person's cognitive abilities. Research shows "IQ is correlated with academic success; it can also predict important life outcomes such as job performance and socioeconomic advancement."

EQ - Emotional Quotient:
Measures a persons "ability, capacity, or skill to perceive, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups." Some researchers have found that emotional intelligence is an important predictor of grades, promotions, health, and relationship quality.

AQ - Adversity Quotient:
Measures a person's resilience to adversity. Case studies indicate that AQ is a good predictor of performance, promotions and sales resilience in the candidate. AQ has been studied on a total workforce scale and found correlated with business success. An important finding is that AQ is a factor that can be rewired and increased for most people through training. Due to the simple measures needed to get better and the direct business implications, AQ has become very popular in the business world.

Notice that when it comes to effects, these quotients overlap. From my perspective these measures are not MECE. The measures are correlated (as studies show) - hence not being Mutually Exclusive (ME). Furthermore, I believe they far from convey the whole picture, hence not being Collectively Exhaustive (CE). Quotients on our abilities offer a lot of (r)evaluational potential if someone takes a holistic focus on improving them.

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